rnia 
1 


THE 

LIFE  OF   HORACE  GEEELEY, 

EDITOR  OF  THE  NEW  YORK  TRIBUNE. 

By     JAMES     PARTON. 
1vol.    12mo.    $3.0O. 


"  This  book  is  as  true  as  I  could  make  it ;  nothing  has  been  inserted 
or  suppressed  for  the  sake  of  making  out  a  case.  Errors  of  detail  in  a 
work  containing  so  many  details  as  this  can  scarcely  be  avoided  ;  but 
upon  the  correctness  of  every  important  statement,  and  upon  the  gen- 
eral fidelity  of  the  picture  presented,  the  reader  may  rely."  —  Extract 
from  ihe  Preface. 


FIELDS,  OSGOOD,  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

124  Tremout  Street,  Boston. 


ESSAYS 


DESIGNED  TO  ELUCIDATE  THE  SCIENCE  OF 


POLITICAL   ECONOMY, 


WHILE   SERVING   TO  EXPLAIN  AND   DEFEND 
THE  POLICY   OF 


A3  A   SYSTEM   OF 

NATIONAL  COOPERATION  FOR  THE  ELEVATION  OF 
LABOR. 


BY   HOKACE   GEEELEY. 


BOSTON: 
FIELDS,    OSGOOD,    &  C  0. 

1870. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1869,  by 

HORACE     GREELEY, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


UNIVERSITY  PRESS:  WELCH,  BIGELOW,  &  Co., 
CAMBRIDGE. 


HENRY    CLAY, 

THE  GENIAL,  GALLANT,  HIGH-SOULED  PATRIOT,  ORATOR,  AND 

STATESMAN;  THE  NOBLEST  EMBODIMENT  OF  AMERICAN 

GENIUS,   CHARACTER,   AND  ASPIRATIONS  ;   THE 

MAN  WHO  MOST  EFFECTIVELY  COMMENDED 

THE  POLICY  OF  PROTECTION  TO  THE 

UNDERSTANDINGS  AND  HEARTS 

OF  THE  MASSES  OF  HIS 
*  COUNTRYMEN, 

THIS   WORK 

OF  ONE   AMONG   THE   MANY   WHO   STILL  LOVE,  HONOR, 
AND   ADMIRE   HIM, 

IS  AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED 


THE   AUTHOR. 


PREFACE. 


"  No  doubt,  ye  are  the  People,  and  wisdom  will  die 
with  you,"  said  patient,  yet  still  human  Job,  when  his 
friends  had  rather  overdone  the  business  of  reproving, 
exhorting,  correcting,  and  generally  overhauling  him.  I 
am  often  reminded  of  the  old  Patriarch's  later  and  less 
material  tribulations,  while  scanning  the  lucubrations  of 
those  who  modestly  claim  for  their  own  school  a  monop- 
oly of  all  the  wisdom  wherewith  the  science  of  Political 
Economy  has  yet  been  irradiated,  and  dismiss  the  argu- 
ments of  their  antagonists  as  the  sophisms  of  rapacity 
and  selfishness,  or  of  a  mole-eyed  ignorance  and  narrow- 
ness unworthy  of  grave  confutation.  There  are  minds 
whereon  such  majestic  assumptions  of  superior  wisdom 
may  impose  ;  but  I  make  no  appeal  to  them.  I  write 
for  the 'great  mass  of  intelligent,  observant,  reflecting 
farmers  and  mechanics ;  and,  if  I  succeed  in  making  my 
positions  clearly  understood,  I  do  not  fear  that  they  will 
be  condemned  or  rejected. 

Had  I  been  able  to  snatch  more  time  from  the  inces- 
sant labors  and  cares  of  a  most  exacting  vocation,  I 
should  have  presented  a  more  complete  and  unexception- 


Yiii  PREFACE. 

able  work.     I  ought  to  have  had  at  least  one  full  year  for 

« 
the  preparation  of  this  volume  ;  whereas,  I  have  given 

it  but  a  portion  of  my  time  for  six  months.  I  could 
have  fortified  my  positions  far  more  strongly  with  cita- 
tions from  those  whose  arguments  are  weighty,  and 
especially  with  those  of  eminent  Free-Traders,  had  I 
enjoyed  a  fuller  opportunity.  But  there  is  an  important 
sense  wherein  my  whole  past  life  has  been  a  preparation 
for  this  undertaking :  for  the  experience  and  observation 
of  nearly  half  a  century,  so  far  as  they  bear  upon  the 
sources  and  currents  of  industrial  prosperity  or  adver- 
sity, have  been  freely  drawn  upon  in  the  composition  of 
the  following  chapters,  which  embody  what  I  have  seen 
and  felt  far  more  fully  than  they  do  what  I  have  read 
and  studied.  At  all  events,  I  cannot  hope  ever  to  find 
time  to  study  more  profoundly  and  write  more  elabo- 
rately ;  so  those  who  care  to  scan  my  views  of  the  impor- 
tant topic  here  treated  will  seek  them  in  the  volume 
herewith  presented. 

At  all  events,  those  who  read  will  say  that  hgre  is  no 
artifice,  no  concealment,  no  reserve.  If  Protection  be 
indeed  the  narrow,  bigoted,  short-sighted,  one-sided,  self- 
condemned,  envious,  hateful  policy  its  enemies  proclaim 
it,  this  work  cannot  fail  to  reveal  the  fact,  so  that  it  will 
no  longer  be  believed  on  the  mere  dictum  of  Baptist-Say, 
Bastiat,  McCulloch,  and  Mill.  These  essays  will  not  dis- 
r.rm  hostility  any  more  than  they  deprecate  criticism. 


PREFACE.  IX 

If  it  be  true  that  Protection  is  based  on  envy  or  hatred 
of  others'  prosperity,  and  seeks  to  pull  them  down  to  a 
common  level  of  obstruction,  stagnation,  and  virtual  ruin, 
—  if  Protection  be  a  device  to  sell  inferior  goods  at 
extortionate  prices,  —  to  enable  manufacturers  to  enrich 
themselves  at  the  expense  of  involuntary  customers,  — 
that  fact  may  be  demonstrated  from  the  following  pages. 
I  know  that  the  hurry  of  preparation  leaves  my  posi- 
tions at  many  points  exposed  to  cavil ;  yet  my  con- 
fidence that  they  are  based  on  absolute  truth  is  so 
profound  that  I  heartily  commend  them  to  thoughtful 
scrutiny.  -'*$  \.f 

Writing  for  common  people,  I  have  aimed,  above  all 
things,  to  be  lucid  and  simple.  My  illustrations  are 
drawn  from  our  National  history,  mainly  from  that  part 
of  it  whereof  there  are  many  living  witnesses  ;  and  I 
have  preferred  those  to  whose  truthfulness  I  could  per- 
sonally bear  testimony.  If  these  shall  often  seem  to  the 
fastidious  homely  and  commonplace,  I  do  not  believe 
that  they  will,  on  that  account,  be  less  acceptable  to,  or 
less  effective  with,  the  larger  number  of  my  readers. 

Doubtless,  some  will  disrelish  my  frequent  citations 
from  the  records  of  our  past  struggles  to  establish,  on 
the  one  hand,  —  to  undermine  and  subvert,  on  the  other, 
the  policy  of  Protection  ;  but  they  are  not  made  with- 
out a  purpose.  For  the  Questions  we  are  about  to  con- 
sider, the  issues  we  are  soon  to  try,  are  in  essence  the 


X  PREFACE. 

same  that  were  passed  upon  by  our  fathers  ;  and  my 
positions  are  substantially  those  held  by  Henry  Clay, 
Rollin  C.  Mallary,  Walter  Forward,  and  their  compeers, 
in  opposition  to  those  of  John  Randolph,  John  C.  Cal- 
houn,  George  McDuffie,  and  Churchill  C.  Cambreleng. 
There  are  no  stronger  arguments  for  Free  Trade  to-day 
than  those  so  ably  urged  by  Daniel  Webster  in  his 
speech  against  the  Tariff  of  1824,  —  a  very  great  speech 
indeed,  and  one  which  no  man  now  living  can  surpass,  — 
but  it  did  not  defeat  the  passage  of  the  bill,  nor  prevent 
Mr.  Webster  becoming  in  after  years  a  leading  champion 
of  that  Protective  policy  which  he  therein  assailed  so 
forcibly.  We  who,  as  boys  or  as  men,  were  humble  par- 
ticipants in  the  contests  for  Protection  in  those  days  are 
not  likely  to  be  dismayed  by  a  reproduction  of  the  argu- 
ments which  the  American  People  then  debated,  con- 
sidered, and  condemned,  as  inapt  or  unsound. 

We  are  about  to  enter,  as  a  people,  upon  a  very  gen- 
eral and  earnest  discussion  of  Economic  questions,  and  I 
rejoice  that  such  is  the  case.  I  welcome  the  conflict, 
for  I  feel  entirely  assured  as  to  the  ultimate  issue.  Bull 
Runs  and  Chickamaugas  may  intervene,  but  I  look  be- 
yond them  to  our  Atlanta  and  our  Appomattox. 

H.  G. 
NEW  YOBK,  December  1, 1869. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 
I.    LABOR  —  PRODUCTION       .       .       .       .       .       .       .13 

II.    COMMERCE  —  EXCHANGES 26 

III.  CAPITAL — SKILL — INVENTION  —  INTELLECTUAL  PROP- 

ERTY   40 

IV.  MONEY  —  THE  BALANCE  OF  TRADE        ....  54 
V.    PAPER  MONEY  —  INTEREST  —  USURY  ....  68 

VI.    SLAVERY  —  HIRED   LABOR  —  PROPORTION  —  COOPERA- 
TION       81 

VII.    MONOPOLY  —  THE  LAW  OF  PRICES  —  EFFECT  OF  DU- 
TIES ON  COST 95 

VIII.    AGRICULTURE  AS  AFFECTED   BY  PROTECTION  —  VIEWS 

OF  THE  FATHERS 108 

IX.    THE  STATE  — ITS  LEGITIMATE  SPHERE  —  POWERS  AND 

DUTIES — FREE  TRADE  AXIOMS  CONSIDERED        .  120 

X.  PROTECTION  FOR  AGRICULTURE 133 

XI.  MANUFACTURES  AND  THEIR  NEEDS     ....  146 

XII.    THE  LABORING  CLASS  —  ITS  RIGHTS,  INTERESTS,  DU- 
TIES, AND  NEEDS 159 

XIII.  THE  INTEREST  OF  CONSUMERS — IRON   ....  171 

XIV.  PROTECTION  ILLUSTRATED  —  SUGAR    ....  186 

XV.    THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS  —  THE  SUGAR  INDUSTRY 
OF    FRANCE    INVIGORATING    OTHER    INDUSTRIES  — 

BEET  SUGAR  ON  ITS  TRIUMPHAL  MARCH  .       .        .  199 


xii  CONTENTS. 

XVI.    AMERICAN  SHIP-BUILDING,  SHIPPING,  AND  FOREIGN 

COMMERCE 214 

XVII.    CREDIT  —  ITS  USES  AND  ABUSES  —  FOREIGN  INDEBT- 
EDNESS —  OUR  NATIONAL  DEBT  ....  233 

XVIII.  WHAT  HAS  BEEN  ELUCIDATING  WHAT  SHALL  BE  .  246 

XIX.  TAXATION,  DIRECT  AND  INDIRECT  ....  264 

XX.  COOPERATION 273 

XXL  WOOL  AND  WOOLLENS 287 

XXII.   IMMIGRATION 306 

XXIII.  SPECIFIC  —  AD  VALOREM  —  MINIMUM     .       .       .  323 

XXIV.  CONCLUSIONS .  336 


APPENDIX 355 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 


i. 

LABOR  —  PRODUCTION. 

FIRST  of  Man's  material  interests,  most  pervading, 
most  essential,  is  LABOR,  or  the  employment  of  human 
faculties  and  sinews  to  create,  educe,  or  shape  articles 
required  by  his  needs  or  tastes.  Though  Providence  is 
benignant  and  Nature  bounteous,  so  that  it  was  possi- 
ble, in  the  infancy  of  the  race,  that  the  few  simple 
wants  of  a  handful  of  savages  might  be  fitfully,  grudg- 
ingly satisfied  from  the  spontaneous  products  of  the 
earth  ;  and  though  a  thin  population  of  savages  is  still 
enabled  to  subsist,  on  a  few  fertile  tropical  islands,  with- 
out regular,  systematic  industry,  —  their  number  being 
kept  below  the  point  of  mutual  starvation  by  incessant 
wars,  by  cannibalism,  by  infanticide,  and  by  their  un- 
bounded licentiousness,  —  the  rule  is  all  but  inexorable 
that  human  existence,  even,  is  dependent  on  human  labor. 
To  the  race  generally,  to  smaller  communities,  and  to 
individuals,  God  proffers  the  stern  alternative,  Work  or 
perish  !  Idlers  and  profligates  are  constantly  dying  out, 
leaving  the  earth  peopled  mainly  by  the  offspring  of  the 
relatively  industrious  and  frugal.  Philanthropy  may 
drop  a  tear  by  their  unmarked  graves;  but  the  idle, 
thriftless,  improvident  tribes  and  classes  will  never- 
theless disappear,  leaving  the  earth  to  those  who,  by 


14  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

planting  as  well  as  by  clearing  away  forests,  and  by  till- 
ing, irrigating,  fertilizing,  and  beautifying  the  earth, 
prove  themselves  children  worthy  of  her  bounty  and 
her  blessing.  Even  if  all  things  were  made  common, 
and  the  idle  welcomed  to  a  perpetual  feast  upon  the 
products  of  the  toil  of  the  diligent,  still,  the  former 
would  rapidly  pass  away,  leaving  few  descendants,  and 
the  children  of  the  latter  would  ultimately  inherit  the 
earth. 

Labor  begins  by  producing  and  storing  the  food  and 
fabrics  required  to  shield  men  from  the  assaults  of  hun- 
ger and  thirst,  from  storm  and  frost,  from  bleak  winds 
and  the  austerity  of  seasons  and  climates ;  but  it  does 
not  end  here.  Man's  wants  expand  and  multiply  with 
his  means  of  satisfying  them.  He  who  would  once  have 
deemed  himself  fortunate  if  provided  with  the  means  of 
satisfying  his  most  urgent  physical  needs,  and  "  passing 
rich  on  forty  pounds  a  year,"  learns  gradually,  as  his 
means  increase,  to  number  a  stately  mansion,  with  spa- 
cious substructures  and  grounds,  a  costly  equipage, 
sumptuous  fumiture,  rare  pictures  and  statuary,  plate 
and  precious  stones,  among  his  positive  needs.  "  The 
heart  of  man  is  never  satisfied "  with  its  worldly 
goods ;  and  this  is  wisely  ordered,  that  none  should 
cease  to  struggle  and  aspire.  The  possessor  of  vast 
wealth  seems  more  eager  to  increase  it  than  his  needy 
neighbor  to  escape  from  the  squalid  prison-house  of 
abject  want.  The  man  of  millions,  just  tottering  on 
the  brink  of  the  grave,  still  schemes  and  contrives  to 
double  those  millions,  even  when  he  knows  that  his 
hoard  must  soon  pass  to  distant  relatives  to  whose  wel- 
fare he  is  utterly  indifferent.  The  mania  for  heaping  up 
riches,  though  it  has  a  very  material,  tangible  basis,  out- 
lives all  rational  motive  and  defies  all  sensible  limita- 
tions. Many  a  thoroughly  selfish  person  has  risked  and 


LABOR  —  PRODUCTION.  15 

lost  his  life  in  eager  pursuit  of  gain  which  he  did  not 
need  and  could  not  hope  to  enjoy. 

Yet,  when  poets,  philanthropists,  and  divines,  have 
said  their  worst  of  it,  the  love  of  personal  acquisition 
remains  the  main-spring  of  most  of  the  material  good 
thus  far  achieved  on  this  rugged,  prosaic  planet.  Co- 
lumbus, wearily  bearing  from  court  to  court  his  earnest 
petition  to  be  enabled  to  discover  a  new  world,  insisted 
on  his  claim  to  be  made  hereditary  Lord  High  Admiral 
of  that  world,  and  to  a  tithe  of  all  the  profits  that 
should  flow  from  its  acquisition.  The  great  are  rarely 
so  great  or  the  good  so  good  that  they  choose  to  labor 
and  dare  entirely  for  the  benefit  of  others ;  while,  with 
the  multitude,  personal  advantage  is  the  sole  incitement 
to  continuous  exertion.  Man's  natural  love  of  ease  and 
enjoyment  is  only  overborne,  in  the  general  case,  by  his 
consciousness  that  through  effort  and  self-denial  lies,  the 
way  to  comfort  and  ease  for  his  downhill  of  life  and  a 
more  fortunate  career  for  his  children.  Take  away  the 
inducements  to  industry  and  thrift  afforded  by  the  law 
which  secures  to  each  the  ownership  and  enjoyment  of 
his  rightful  gains,  and,  through  universal  poverty  and 
ignorance,  even  Christendom  would  rapidly  relapse  into 
utter  barbarism. 

But,  though  Industry  is  mainly  selfish  in  its  impulses, 
it  is  beneficent,  and  even  moral,  in  its  habitual  influences 
and  results.  Closely  scan  any  community,  and  you  will 
trace  its  reprobates  and  criminals  back  to  homes  and 
haunts  of  youthful  idleness.  Of  the  hundred  youth 
this  day  living  in  a  rural  village  or  school  district,  or  on 
a  city  block,  if  it  be  found  on  inquiry  that  sixty  are 
diligent,  habitual  workers,  while  the  residue  are  growing 
up  in  idleness,  broken  only  by  brief  and  fitful  spasms  of 
industry,  you  may  safely  conclude  that  the  sixty  will  be- 
come moral,  useful,  exemplary  men  and  women,  while 


IQ  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

the  forty  will  make  their  way,  through  lives  of  vice  and 
ignominy,  to  criminals',  drunkards',  or  paupers'  graves. 
The  world  is  full  of  people  who  wander  from  place  to 
place,  whining  for  «  Something  to  Do,"  and  begging  or 
stealing  their  subsistence  for  want  of  work,  whose  funda- 
mental misfortune  is  that  they  know  how  to  do  nothing, 
having  been  brought  up  to  just  that.  They  are  leeches 
on  the  body  politic,  and  must  usually  be  supported  by 
it  in  prison  or  poor-house,  and  finally  buried  at  its  cost, 
mainly  because  their  ignorant  or  vicious  parents  culpably 
failed  to  teach  them  or  have  them  taught  how  to  work. 
Now  they  will  tell  you,  when  in  desperate  need,  that 
they  are  "  willing  to  do  anything  ";  but  what  avails  that, 
since  they  know  how  to  do  nothing  that  is  useful,  or 
that  any  one  wants  to  pay  them  for  doing  1 

There  have  been  communities,  and  even  races,  that 
proclaimed  it  a  religious  and  moral  duty  of  parents  to 
have  each  child  taught  some  useful  calling  whereby  an 
honest  living  would  be  well-nigh  assured.  That  child 
might  be  the  heir  of  vast  wealth,  or  even  of  a  kingdom ; 
but  that  did  not  excuse  him  from  learning  how  to  earn 
his  livelihood  like  a  peasant.  The  Saracens  and  Moors, 
who  bore  the  faith  of  Mohammed  on  their  victorious 
lances  to  the  very  heart  alike  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa, 
so  trained  their  sons  to  practise  and  honor  industry ; 
unlike  the  Turks  and  Arabs,  who,  since  the  decay  of  the 
empires  of  Saladin  and  Haroun  al  Raschid,  have  in- 
herited the  possessions,  but  not  the  genius,  of  the  earlier 
champions  and  disseminators  of  their  faith.  Greek  and 
Roman  civilization  had  previously  rotted  away,  under 
the  baneful  influences  of  that  contempt  for  and  avoid- 
ance of  labor  which  Slavery  never  fails  to  engender. 
Not  till  the  diversification  of  industry,  through  the 
silent  growth  and  diffusion  of  manufactures,  had  under- 
mined and  destroyed  serfdom  in  Europe,  was  it  possible 


LABOR  —  PRODUCTION.  1 7 

to  emancipate  that  continent  from  mediaeval  ignorance 
and  barbarism.  Not  while  the  world  still  waits  for  a 
more  systematic,  thorough  enforcement  of  the  principle 
that  every  child  should  in  youth  be  trained  to  skill  and 
efficiency  in  some  department  of  useful,  productive  industry, 
can  we  hope  to  banish  able-bodied  Pauperism,  with  its 
attendant  train  of  hideous  vices  and  sufferings,  from  the 
civilized  world.  So  long  as  children  shall  be  allowed  to 
grow  up  in  idleness  must  our  country,  with  most  other 
countries,  be  overrun  with  beggars,  thieves,  and  miserable 
wrecks  of  manhood  as  well  as  of  womanhood. 

Every  child  should  be  trained  to  dexterity  in  some 
useful  branch  of  productive  industry,  not  in  order  that  he 
shall  certainly  follow  that  pursuit,  but  that  he  may  at  all 
events  be  able  to  do  so  in  case  he  shall  fail  in  the  more 
intellectual  or  artificial  calling  which  he  may  prefer  to  it. 
Let  him  seek  to  be  a  doctor,  lawyer,  preacher,  poet,  if  he 
will ;  but  let  him  not  stake  his  all  on  success  in  that  pur- 
suit, but  have  a  second  line  to  fall  back  upon  if  driven 
from  his  first.  Let  him  be  so  reared  and  trained  that  he 
may  enter,  if  he  will,  upon  some  intellectual  calling  in 
the  sustaining  consciousness  that  he  need  not  debase 
himself,  nor  do  violence  to  his  convictions,  in  order  to 
achieve  success  therein,  since  he  can  live  and  thrive  in 
another  (if  you  choose,  humbler)  vocation,  if  driven 
from  that  of  his  choice.  This  buttress  to  integrity,  this 
assurance  of  self-respect,  is  to  be  found  in  a  universal 
training  to  efficiency  in  Productive  Labor. 

The  world  is  full  of  misdirection  and  waste  ;  but  all 
the  calamities  and  losses  endured  by  mankind  through 
frost,  drouth,  blight,  hail,  fii'es,  earthquakes,  inunda- 
tions, are  as  nothing  to  those  habitually  suffered  by  them 
through  human  idleness  arid  inefficiency,  mainly  caused 
(or  excused)  by  lack  of  industrial  training.  It  is  quite 
within  the  truth  to  estimate  that  one  tenth  of  our  people, 


18  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

in  the  average,  are  habitually  idle  because  (as  they  say) 
they  can  find  no  employment.  They  look  for  work  where 
it  cannot  be  had.  They  seem  to  be,  or  they  are,  unable 
to  do  such  as  abundantly  confronts  and  solicits  them. 
Suppose  these  to  average  but  one  million  able-bodied 
persons,  and  that  their  work  is  worth  but  one  dollar  each 
per  day ;  our  loss  by  involuntary  idleness  cannot  be  less 
than  $  300,000,000  per  annum.  I  judge  that  it  is 
actually  $  500,000,000.  Many  who  stand  waiting  to  be 
hired  could  earn  from  two  to  five  dollars  per  day  had  they 
been  properly  trained  to  work.  "  There  is  plenty  of 
room  higher  up,"  said  Daniel  Webster,  in  response  to  an 
inquiry  as  to  the  prospects  of  a  young  man  just  entering 
upon  the  practice  of  law ;  and  there  is  never  a  dearth 
of  employment  for  men  or  women  of  signal  capacity  or 
skill.  In  this  city,  ten  thousand  women  are  always 
doing  needlework  for  less  than  fifty  cents  per  day,  find- 
ing themselves;  yet  twice  their  number  of  capable, 
skilful  seamstresses  could  find  steady  employment  and 
good  living  in  wealthy  families  at  not  less  than  one  dollar 
per  day  over  and  above  board  and  lodging.  He  who  is 
a  good  blacksmith,  a  fair  millwright,  a  tolerable  wagon- 
maker,  and  can  chop  timber,  make  fence,  and  manage  a 
small  farm  if  required,  is  always  sure  of  work  and  fair 
recompense  ;  while  he  or  she  who  can  keep  books  or 
teach  music  fairly,  but  knows  how  to  do  nothing  else,  is 
in  constant  danger  of  falling  into  involuntary  idleness 
and  consequent  beggary.  It  is  a  broad,  general  truth 
that  no  boy  was  ever  yet  inured  to  daily,  systematic, 
productive  labor  in  field  or  shop  throughout  the  latter 
half  of  his  minority,  who  did  not  prove  a  useful  man, 
and  was  not  able  to  find  work  whenever  he  wished  it. 

Yet  to  the  ample  and  constant  employment  of  a  whole 
community  one  prerequisite  is  indispensable,  —  that  a 
variety  of  pursuits  shall  have  been  created  or  natural- 


LABOR  —  PRODUCTION.  19 

ized  therein.  A  people  who  have  but  a  single  source  of 
profit  are  uniformly  poor,  not  because  that  vocation  is 
necessarily  ill-chosen,  but  because  no  single  calling  can 
employ  and  reward  the  varied  capacities  of  male  and  fe- 
male, young  and  old,  robust  and  feeble.  Thus  a  lum- 
bering or  fishing  region  with  us  is  apt  to  have  a  large 
proportion  of  needy  inhabitants ;  and  the  same  is  true 
of  a  region  exclusively  devoted  to  cotton-growing  or 
gold-mining.  A  diversity  of  pursuits  is  indispensable 
to  general  activity  and  enduring  prosperity.  Sixty  or 
seventy  years  ago,  what  was  then  the  District,  and  is  now 
the  State,  of  Maine  was  a  proverb  in  New  England  for 
the  poverty  of  its  people,  mainly  because  they  were  so 
largely  engaged  in  timber-cutting.  The  great  grain- 
growing,  wheat-exporting  districts  of  the  Russian  empire 
have  a  poor  and  rude  people  for  a  like  reason.  Thus  the 
industry  of  Massachusetts  is  immensely  more  productive 
per  head  than  that  of  North  Carolina,  or  even  that  of 
Indiana,  as  it  will  cease  to  be  whenever  manufactures 
shall  have  been  diffused  over  our  whole  country,  as  they 
must  and  will  be.  In  Massachusetts,  half  the  women 
and  nearly  half  the  children  add  by  their  daily  labor  to 
the  aggregate  of  realized  wealth  ;  in  North  Carolina  and 
in  Indiana,  little  wealth  i§  produced  save  by  the  labor  of 
men,  including  boys  of  fifteen  or  upward.  When  this 
disparity  shall  have  ceased,  its  consequence  will  also  dis- 
appear. 

And,  though  Man  is  first  impelled  to  labor  by  the 
spur  of  material  want,  the  movement  outlasts  the  im- 
pulse in  which  it  originated..  The  miser  toils,  and 
schemes,  and  saves,  with  an  eye  single  to  his  own  profit 
or  aggrandizement ;  but  commodious  public  halls,  grand 
hotels,  breezy  parks,  vast  libraries,  noble  colleges,  are 
often  endowed  in  his  will  or  founded  on  his  wealth. 
Whatever  the  past  has  bequeathed  for  our  instruction, 


20  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

civilization,  refinement,  or  comfort,  was  created  for  us  by 
the  saving,  thrifty,  provident  minority  of  vanished  gen- 
erations, many  of  whom  were  despised  and  reviled 
through  life  as  absorbed  in  selfishness  and  regardless 
of  other  than  personal  ends.  How  many  of  those  who 
flippantly  disparaged  and  contemned  him  while  he  lived 
have  rendered  to  mankind  such  signal,  abiding  service  as 
Stephen  Girard  or  John  Jacob  Astor  1 

He  who  is  emphatically  a  worker  has  rarely  time  or 
taste  for  crime  or  vice.  Nature  is  so  profoundly  imbued 
with  integrity,  —  so  implacably  hostile  to  unreality  'and 
sham,  —  so  inflexible  in  *her  resolve  to  give  so  much  for 
so  much,  and  to  yield  no  more  to  whatever  enticement 
or  wheedling,  —  that  the  worker,  as  worker,  is  well-nigh 
constrained  to  uprightness.  The  farmer  or  gardener 
may 'be  tempted  to  cheat  as  a  trafficker,  —  to  sell  honey 
that  is  half  molasses,  or  milk  that  he  has  made  sky-blue 
with  water,  —  yet  even  he  knows  better  than  to  hope  or 
seek  to  defraud  Nature  of  so  much  as  a  farthing ;  for 
he  feels  that  she  will  not  allow  it.  Every  thousand 
bushels  of  grain,  wherever  produced,  cost  just  so  much  ex- 
ertion of  mind  and  muscle,  and  will  be  commanded  by  no 
less.  Stupidity,  seeking  to  dispense  with  the  brain-work, 
may  make  them  far  too  costly  in  muscular  effort ;  but 
Nature  fixes  her  price  for  them,  and  will  accept  no  dime 
short  of  it.  Work,  wherever  done,  bears  constant,  em- 
phatic testimony  to  the  value,  the  necessity,  of  integrity 
and  truth.  Carlyle  states1  this  more  broadly,  hence 
more  impressively,  thus  :  — 

"  It  has  been  written,  '  An  endless  significance  lies  in 
Work:  a  man  perfects  himself  by  working.  Foul  jungles 
are  cleared  away;  fair  seed-fields  rise  instead,  and  stately 
cities  ;  and  withal  the  man  himself  first  ceases  to  be  jungle, 
and  foul,  unwholesome  desert  thereby.  Consider  how,  even 

1  Past  and  Present. 


LABOR  —  PRODUCTION.  21 

in  the  meanest  sort  of  labor,  the  whole  soul  of  man  is  com- 
posed into  a  kind  of  real  harmony  the  instant  he  sets  himself 
to  work  !  Doubt,  Desire,  Sorrow,  Remorse,  Indignation, 
Despair  itself,  all  these,  like  hell-dogs,  beleaguering  the  soul 
of  the  poor  day-worker,  as  of  every  man ;  but  he  bends  with 
free  valor  against  his  task,  and  all  these  are  stilled,  all  these 
shrink  murmuring  far  off  into  their  caves.  The  man  is  now 
a  man.  The  blessed  glow  of  Labor  in  him,  —  is  it  not  as 
purifying  fire,  wherein  all  poison  is  burnt  up,  and  of  sour 
smoke  itself  there  is  made  bright,  blessed  flame  ?  ' 

"  Show  me  a  people  energetically  busy,  heaving,  struggling, 
all  shoulders  at  the  wheel,  their  hearts  pulsing,  every  muscle 
swelling  with  man's  energy  and  will ;  I  show  you  a  people  of 
whom  great  good  is  already  predicable,  —  to  whom  all  man- 
ner of  good  is  yet  certain,  if  their  energy  endure.  By  very 
working,  they  will  learn ;  they  have,  Antaeus-like,  their  feet 
on  Mother  Fact ;  how  can  they  but  learn  ?  " 

Our  own  great  Charming  had,  some  years  earlier,  set 
forth  the  same  general  truth,  —  that  of  the  beneficence 
of  Labor  as  a  groundwork  of  human  education  and  dis- 
cipline, —  in  terms  somewhat  less  vigorous,  but  no  less 
explicit  and  positive,  than  those  of  the  British  essayist. 
He  says  :l  — 

"  I  do  not  expect  a  series  of  improvements  by  which  the 
laborer  is  to  be  released  from  his  daily  work.  Still  more,  I 
have  no  desire  to  dismiss  him  from  his  workshop  and  farm,  — 
to  take  the  spade  and  axe  from  his  hand,  and  to  make  his  life 
a  long  holiday.  I  have  faith  in  labor ;  and  I  see  the  good- 
ness of  God  in  placing  us  in  a  world  where  labor  alone  can 
keep  us  alive.  I  would  not  change,  if  I  could,  our  own  sub- 
jection to  physical  laws,  our  exposure  to  hunger  and  cold,  and 
the  necessity  of  constant  conflicts  with  the  material  world. 
I  would  not,  if  I  could,  so  temper  the  elements  that  they 
should  infuse  into  us  only  grateful  sensations,  —  that  they 
should  make  vegetation  so  exuberant  as  to  anticipate  every 

1  Lectures  on  the  Elevation  of  the-  Laboring  Classes.  By  the  Rev. 
William  Ellery  Channing,  D.  D. 


22  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

want,  and  the  minerals  so  ductile  as  to  offer  no  resistance  to 
our  strength  and  skill.  Such  a  world  would  make  a  con- 
temptible race.  Man  owes  his  growth,  his  energy,  chiefly 
to  the  striving  of  the  will,  —  that  conflict  with  difficulty 
which  we  call  Effort.  Easy,  pleasant  work  does  not  make 
robust  minds;  does  not  give  men  a  consciousness  of  their 
powers ;  does  not  train  them  to  endurance,  to  perseverance, 
to  steady  force  of  will,  —  that  force  without  which  all  other 
acquisitions  avail  nothing.  Manual  labor  is  a  school  in  which 
men  are  placed  to  get  energy  of  purpose  and  character,  —  a 
vastly  more  important  endowment  than  all  the  learning  of  all 
other  schools.  They  are  placed,  indeed,  under  hard  masters  — 
physical  sufferings  and  wants,  the  power  of  fearful  elements, 
and  the  vicissitudes  of  all  human  things ;  but  these  stern 
teachers  do  a  work  which  no  compassionate,  indulgent  friend 
could  do  for  us ;  and  true  wisdom  will  bless  Providence  for 
their  sharp  ministry.  I  have  great  faith  in  hard  work.  The 
material  world  does  much  for  the  mind  by  its  beauty  and 
order;  but  it  does  much  more  for  our  minds  by  the  pain  it 
inflicts,  —  by  its  obstinate  resistance,  which  nothing  but 
patient  toil  can  overcome,  —  by  its  vast  forces,  which  nothing 
but  unremitting  skill  and  effort  can  turn  to  our  use,  —  by  its 
perils,  which  demand  continual  vigilance,  and  by  its  tendency 
to  decay.  I  believe  that  difficulties  are  more  important  to  the 
human  mind  than  what  we  call  assistances.  Work  we  all 
must,  if  we  mean  to  bring  out  and  perfect  our  nature.  Even 
if  we  do  not  work  with  the  hands,  we  must  undergo  equiva- 
lent toil  in  some  other  direction.  No  business  or  study  which 
does  not  present  obstacles,  tasking  to  the  full  the  intellect 
and  the  will,  is  worthy  of  a  man.  In  .science,  he  who  does 
not  grapple  with  hard  questions,  who  does  not  concentrate 
his  whole  inteUect  on  vigorous  attention,  who  does  not  aim 
to  penetrate  what  at  first  repels  him,  will  never  attain  to 
mental  force." 

Ross  Browne,  summing  up  his  observations,  made 
during  a  recent  tour  of  the  Holy  Land,  remarks  that  he 
saw  in  all  that  country  but  one  man  doing  anything  :  lie 
was  falling  off  the  roof  of  a  house.  Need  it  be  explained 


LABOR  —  PRODUCTION.  23 

that  Palestine  is  under  the  sway  of  a  race  and  rule  that 
reject  the  idea  of  Protection  to  Home  Industry,  holding 
it  condemned  by  the  precepts  of  that  Koran  which  is 
their  Bible  1  Labor  is  amazingly  cheap  there,  —  cheap 
as  in  the  day  when  each  of  the  laborers  in  the  vineyard 
received  a  penny  for  his  day's  wages,  whether  he  had 
worked  twelve  hours  or  but  one,  —  yet  barely  a  few  of 
the  very  rudest  manufactures  are  still  prosecuted,  and 
these  are  palpably  feeble  and  declining,  with  the  great 
body  of  the  people  impoverished,  wretched,  despairing. 
Well  may  they  be  so  under  a  government  which  (as  a 
recent  writer  from  Constantinople  reports)  charges  an 
excise  duty  of  twelve  per  cent,  on  ship-timber  cut  from 
Turkish  forests,  and  an  impost  of  but  eight  per  cent,  on 
like  timber  imported  from  a  foreign  land.  No  plunder- 
ing the  masses  here  for  the  profit  of  "  monopolists  "  and 
"  cotton-lords "  :  yet  the  wild  Bedouin  of  the  desert 
levies  at  will  on  the  wretched  tiller  of  the  soil ;  the 
local  tax-collector  seizes  most  of  what  remains  ;  and  the 
hapless  cultivator  is  driven  in  the  spring  to  the  usurer, 
of  whom  he  borrows,  at  twenty-five  to  fifty  per  cent.,  the 
means  of  re-seeding  his  unfertilized  fields,  and  thus  be- 
ginning anew  his  dreary,  hopeless  round  of  famished  toil 
and  vexatious  care. 

The  Hon.  Robert  Dale  Owen,  who  spent  several  years 
at  Naples  as  Minister  of  the  United  States,  declares  the 
lazzaroni  of  that  great  city  unjustly  stigmatized  as  in- 
veterate, wilful  idlers;  he  having  found  them  always 
accepting  with  alacrity  any  job  that  was  offered  them 
and  that  they  knew  how  to  do.  They  were  habitually 
idle,  simply  because  they  could  get  no  work.  Let  us 
suppose  that  the  new  kingdom  of  Italy  were  ruled  by 
some  great  genius  like  Czar  Peter  or  Napoleon  I.  ;  can 
you  believe  that  he  would  not  find  or  make  some  way  of 
setting  these  idle  hundreds  of  thousands  at  work  1  that 


24  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

he  would  be  withheld  from  attempting  it  by  some  col- 
lege pedant  or  blear-eyed  book-worm,  who  should  magis- 
terially admonish  him  that  governments  have  properly 
nothing  to  do  with  industry  or  commerce,  —  that  the 
extent  of  their  legitimate  function  is  to  keep  men  from 
breaking  each  other's  heads  or  picking  each  other's 
pockets,  —  that  they  transcend  their  sphere  whenever 
they  meddle  with  production,  and  seek  to  make  two 
blades  of  grass  flourish  where  but  one  has  hitherto  been 
grown  1  Who  does  not  see  that  to  set  those  thousands 
at  work  —  to  make  them  busy,  useful,  thrifty,  —  to 
proffer  them  ample,  remunerative,  diversified  employ- 
ment —  is  to  elevate  them  morally  as  well  as  physical- 
ly, to  increase  the  wealth  and  strength  of  the  kingdom 
or  state ;  nay,  more,  —  to  elevate  the  standard  of  human 
nature  and  increase  the  sum  of  human  well-being  ? 

But  the  Turks  are  slaveholders ;  and  Slavery  does  not 
concern  itself,  unless  inimically,  with  the  elevation  of 
labor  or  of  the  laboring  class.  The  fundamental  ideas 
on  which  Protection  is  based  war  implacably  on  the  en- 
slavement of  man.  Hence,  Henry  Clay,  though  a  slave- 
holder, was  never  in  sympathy  with  the  Slavery  Propa- 
ganda, and  never  enjoyed  its  confidence,  because  he  was 
a  Protectionist,  and  it  was  felt  instinctively  that  he  coxild 
not  be  heartily  devoted  at  once  to  Slavery  and  to  Pro- 
tection. Hence,  John  C.  Calhoun,  though  a  Protection- 
ist while  in  the  House,  —  as  he  showed  in  framing  and 
advocating  the  tariff  of  1816,  —  became  an  extreme, 
intense  Free-Trader  from  the  hour  in  which  he  presented 
himself  to  the  country  as  the  foremost  champion  of 
Slavery,  not  as  an  evil  to  be  borne,  but  a  good  to  be 
cherished,  perpetuated,  extended.  "  Instinct  is  a  great 
matter " ;  and  the  Southern  aristocracy  of  the  last  age 
co\ild  not  help  regarding  every  cotton-factory  erected 
within  their  domain  as  a  nursery  and  citadel  of  Abolition. 


LABOR  —  PRODUCTION.  25 

No  matter  though  only  whites  were  employed  in  it, 
no  matter  though  each  of  these  were  surcharged  with 
pride  of  caste  and  negro-hate,  they  felt  that  there 
was  an  inevitable  antagonism  between  a  diversified,  in- 
telligent industry  and  their  darling  institution,  and  that 
the  outbreak  of  open  war  between  them  was  merely  a 
question  of  time.  The  South  of  1815-60  had  every 
element  of  manufacturing  prosperity  but  that  of  intelli- 
gent labor  :  she  could  not  have  this  and  Slavery  together  ; 
and  her  ruling  caste,  regarding  Slavery  as  the  paramount 
good,  naturally  frowned  upon  and  froze  out  manufactures. 
An  instinct  profounder  than  any  logic  impelled  them  to 
this  :  a  like  instinct  impelled  the  Congress  of  1860-61, 
so  soon  as  the  slaveholders  had  deserted  their  seats  to 
inaugurate  the  war  of  Secession,  to  frame  and  enact  a 
Protective  Tariff. 

I  insist,  then,  that  the  consideration  of  cheapness, 
though  important,  is  not  aW-important ;  that  "  the  life 
is  more  than  meat " ;  that,  in  laying  the  foundations 
of  a  national  policy,  we  are  to  consider  not  alone  by 
what  course  we  may  obtain  our  supply  of  sheetings, 
flannels,  or  iron,  at  the  lowest  cash  price,  but  how  we 
shall  most  surely  and  fully  develop  and  employ  the 
entire  industrial  capacity  of  our  people.  Even  if  it 
were  as  true  as  it  is  false,  that  we  might  make  more 
money  by  devoting  the  entire  energies  of  our  people  to 
the  growing  of  corn  or  cotton  than  by  a  broadly  diver- 
sified industry,  it  would  still  be  a  grave,  a  fatal  blunder 
to  do  this ;  because  it  could  not  fail  to  doom  the  masses 
to  relative  ignorance  and  barbarism,  —  to  obstruct  their 
intellectual  as  well  as  industrial  development,  and  stunt 
their  growth  in  civilization  and  all  the  amenities  of  life. 
Infinite  are  the  uses  of  Labor ;  but  its  highest  and  noblest 
fruition  is  MAN  ! 

2 


26  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

II.. 
COMMERCE  —  EXCHANGES. 

OURS  is  preeminently  an  age  of  Traffic.  The  rapid  and 
vast  extension  of  commerce  since  the  century  distin- 
guished by  the  invention  of  printing  and  the  discov- 
ery of  America ;  the  applications  of  steam  to  facilitate 
and  speed  the  creation  of  material  wealth  through  man- 
ufactures and  its  diffusion  through  transportation  and 
trade  ;  the  consequent  sudden  and  vast  increase  of  what- 
ever ministers  to  the  sustenance,  comfort,  or  enjoyment 
of  the  human  race,  —  have  combined  to  give  to  Traffic  a 
recent  growth  and  development  far  transcending  the 
wildest  dreams  of  antiquity.  The  commerce  of  Thebes 
or  of  Tyre,  of  Carthage  or  of  Alexandria  in  her  palmy 
days,  was  trivial  in  volume  when  compared  with  that 
whereof  London  or  New  York  is  now  the  fociis.  And 
the  gigantic  enterprises  now  in  progress  or  in  contem- 
plation, whereby  this  continent,  having  already  been 
traversed  by  one  line  of  railroad  through  the  heart  of 
our  country,  is  soon  to  be  belted  with  at  least  two  more, 
paralleled  by  similar  lines  of  communication,  by  rail  or 
by  water,  across  the  Isthmus  of  Darien,  that  of  Tehuan- 
tepec,  and  the  intervening  plateaus  of  Nicaragua  and 
Costa  Rica,  with  the  no  longer  problematical  ship -canal 
across  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  to  say  nothing  of  kindred 
undertakings  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  presage  a  still 
further  and  vaster  augmentation  of  the  volume  and 
momentum  of  international,  trans-oceanic  and  trans-con- 
tinental commerce.  In  the  conception  of  its  votaries, 
Traffic  is  yet  in  its  infancy,  and  is  on  the  verge  of  a 


COMMERCE  —  EXCHANGES.  27 

development  rapid  and  vast  far  beyond  even  its  recent 
advances. 

Very  naturally,  the  popular  apprehension  is  dazzled  by 
the  prospect,  as'it  was,  two  or  three  centuries  since,  by 
the  newly  expanded  possibilities  of  maritime  adventure 
and  discovery.  The  imagination  of  boyhood  is  intoxi- 
cated by  visions  of  wealth  to  be  suddenly  acquired,  of 
ease  to  be  readily  secured,  through  addiction  to  some 
form  of  Traffic.  Our  ambitious,  aspiring  youth,  unless 
educated  for  professions,  forsake,  almost  en  masse,  their 
rural  homes  in  quest  of  mercantile  training  and  a  mer- 
cantile career.  The  ignorant,  friendless,  penniless  negro, 
just  let  loose  from  hereditary  bondage,  drops  his  detested 
hoe  in  the  half-tilled  cotton-field,  and  hies  to  the  nearest 
city,  in  the  sanguine  hope  that  he  may  there  live  lazily 
and  luxuriously  upon  the  profits  of  huckstering,  oyster- 
peddling,  rum-selling,  or  some  other  form  of  petty  traffic, 
or  at  least  as  the  servitor  or  menial  of  one  of  the  more 
favored  votaries  of  some  loftier  guild  of  commerce.  The 
moderate  but  certain  gains  of  patient,  creative  industry, 
and  especially  of  rural  industry,  seem  petty  and  despi- 
cable when  compared  with  the  great  prizes  sometimes 
drawn  in  the  lottery  of  Trade.  These  prizes  are  paraded,  • 
noted,  discussed,  envied  •  they  fill  the  public  eye  and 
command  admiring  regard  ;  while  the  far  more  numerous 
blanks  ai*e  unobserved,  unregarded,  or  soon  forgotten. 
Of  every  hundred  who  embark  in  traffic,  it  was  long  since 
ascertained  that  a  large  majority  fail,  while  scarcely  one 
in  twenty  secures  and  retains  a  competence  ;  but  the 
one  challenges  attention  and  fixes  regard,  while  the  nine- 
teen are  quickly  hidden  from  view  by  the  waters  of 
oblivion.  The  passion  for  gambling,  in  whatever  form, 
seems  as  fascinating  to  the  civilized  as  the  sa,vage  breast ; 
and  no  exposure  of  its  perils  and  horrors  suffices  to  erad- 
icate or  fully  master  it.  Individuals  repel  or  vanquish 


28  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

it ;  the  masses  are  ever  eager  to  expose  themselves  to 
immolation  on  its  gory  altars. 

And,  while  all  Commerce  is  thus  attractive,  that  which 
traverses  oceans  and  interweaves  the  transactions  of 
continents  naturally  proffers  the  largest  prizes  and  the 
most  resistless  attractions.  Prices  are  charged  and 
profits  realized  on  the  products  of  another  continent 
which  would  be  preposterous  and  unattainable  were 
producer  and  consumer  acquainted  with  and  living  in 
proximity  to  each  other.  The  greatest  fortune  ever 
acquired  by  an  American  in  Europe  was  mainly  realized 
in  a  few  years  by  negotiating  in  England  the  bonds  of 
several  of  our  railroad  companies,  and  converting  the 
proceeds  into  the  rails  and  chairs  required  in  building 
or  renovating  the  roads  of  those  companies.  The  colos- 
sal fortune  of  the  Rothschilds  had  a  basis  not  dissimilar 
to  this.  Our  most  eminent  and  successful  New  York 
merchant  was  not  in  youth  trained  to  commerce,  and 
did  not  contemplate  a  mercantile  career ;  but,  after 
devoting  two  or  three  of  the  later  years  of  his  minority 
to  teaching  in  this  city,  he  returned  to  Europe  to  receive 
the  modest  patrimony  bequeathed  him  by  the  last  to 
die  of  his  progenitors.  Having  obtained  it,  and  being 
on  the  point  of  embarking  to  return  to  this,  the  country 
of  his  choice,  a  friend  suggested  that  he  might  largely 
increase  his  little  fortune  by  investing  it  at  Belfast  in  a 
fabric  of  that  busy  city  known  as  Lace  Insei'tions ;  and 
he,  though  utterly  unacquainted  with  merchandise,  fol- 
lowed the  advice ;  selling  the  goods,  on  his  arrival  in 
New  York,  for  as  many  dollars  as  they  had  cost  him 
shillings  (sterling),  and  thus  probably  trebling  his  pat- 
rimony in  the  course  of  two  or  three  months.  The 
revelation  thus  made  to  him  of  what  might  be  acquired 
through  commerce  changed  and  fixed  his  destiny ;  and 
half  a  century  of  persistent,  extensive,  and  constantly 


COMMERCE  —  EXCHANGES.  29 

expanding  importation  and  sale  of  European  fabrics,  has 
placed  him  among  the  foremost  in  wealth  and  rank  of 
our  merchant  princes.  His  has  been  a  most  successful, 
brilliant,  and  honored  career;  and  yet  I  cannot  doubt 
that  he  would  have  been  far  more  useful  to  his  country 
and  to  mankind  had  he  consecrated  his  great  abilities 
and  tireless,  measureless  energy  to  the  naturalization  on 
our  own  soil  of  the  useful  arts  and  processes,  along  with 
the  artificers  and  workmen,  whose  products  he  has  so 
largely  and  so  profitably  imported  from  the  Old  World. 

As  this  avowal  brings  me  into  open,  direct  collision 
with  the  more  widely  accredited  teachers  of  Political 
Economy,  I  pause  here  to  intrench  and  reconnoitre. 

In  nay  conception,  the  chief  end  of  a  true  Political 
Economy  is  the  conversion  of  idlers  and  useless  exchangers 
or  traffickers  into  habitual,  effective  producers  of  wealth. 
If  a  community  whereof  one-half  live  by  vocations  which 
add  nothing  to  its  aggregate  of  useful  products  can  be 
so  organized,  so  transformed,  that  the  proportion  of  its 
non-producers  shall  be  reduced  one-fourth,  its  wealth,  com- 
fort, intelligence,  refinement,  can  hardly  fail  (other  things 
being  equal)  to  be  essentially  increased  by  the  change ; 
if  the  proportion  of  non-producers  could  ttms  be  reduced 
to  one-eighth,  the  resulting  benefit  would  be  doubled. 
And  one  of  the  chief  waste-gates  of  human  effort  is  that 
afforded  by  the  consumption  of  time  and  energies  in  the 
transportation  across  oceans  and  continents  of  staples  or 
fabrics  which  might  as  easily  —  that  is,  with  little  or 
no  more  labor  —  have  been  produced  in  the  region 
where  they  are  required  and  consumed. 

Understand,  once  for  all,  that  I  do  not  propose  a  con- 
travention of  the  laws  of  Nature,  nor  of  any  of  them. 
If  my  countrymen  can  only  grow  coffee  or  allspiae, 
caoutchouc  or  cocoa,  in  hot-houses,  at  many  times  the 
cost  (in  labor)  of  its  production  in  tropical  regions,  then 


30  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

I  would  nowise  encourage  its  growth  among  us  at  all. 
The  free  trade  badinage  about  protecting  the  growth  of 
pine-apples  in  Minnesota,  or  of  arrow-root  in  Maine,  ex- 
tracting sunbeams  from  cucumbers,  &c.,  &c.,  is  simple 
buffoonery  in  evasion  of  the  true  issue.  I  quite  compre- 
hend that  even  international  and  trans-oceanic  commerce 
has  a  beneficent  function,  —  that  of  diffusing  among  the 
inhabitants  of  all  zones  and  countries  those  natural  prod- 
ucts of  each  to  which  the  soil  or  climate  of  another  is 
ungenial,  so  that  all  may  enjoy,  in  a  measure,  the  bless- 
ings divinely  bestowed  upon  each.  And,  so  far  from 
wishing  to  obstruct  or  impede  such  diffusion,  I  acquiesce 
most  reluctantly  in  the  imposition  or  retention  of  any 
duty  or  tax  whatever  on  those  products  of  other  climes 
which  cannot,  because  of  natural  impediments,  be  suc- 
cessfully grown  or  rivalled  on  our  own  soil.  Show  me 
that  Nature  has  interposed  a  serious  barrier  to  the 
growth  or  production  of  any  staple  in  my  country,  and 
I  will  strenuously  insist  that  no  duty  be  imposed  on  the 
importation  of  that  product  unless  for  revenue,  and 
that  this  shall  be  removed  so  soon  as  the  treasury  can 
spare  its  proceeds. 

Now  let  me  show,  without  reference  to  existing  inter- 
ests, wherein  and  why  I  would  apply  the  principle  of 
Protection  :  — 

Tea  is  grown  almost  wholly  in  China,  Japan,  India ; 
and,  wherever  grown  at  all,  in  latitudes  and  climates 
whereof  parallels  are  found  in  our  own  country.  And 
we  have  already  ascertained  by  experiment  that  the  tea- 
plant  germinates,  flourishes,  and  matures,  in  upper  South 
Carolina  and  in  East  Tennessee.  It  should  have  been 
tested  long  since  at  a  hundred  different  points  through- 
out the  Union ;  but  there  is  no  room  for  rational  doubt 
that  as  large  an  area  of  this  republic  as  of  China  will 
produce  tea  abundantly  and  continuously,  \inder  proper 
cultivation. 


COMMERCE  —  EXCHANGES.  31 

Now  it  is  inevitable  that,  so  long  as  the  tea  drank  by 
our  people  shall  continue  to  be  grown  in  China  and 
Japan,  the  consumers  here  will  pay  (quite  apart  from  and 
above  any  tax  or  duty  imposed  on  its  importation  by  our 
government)  three  to  six  times  as  much  for  their  tea  as 
the  Chinese  growers  receive  for  it.  The  old  hyson,  for 
which  our  drinkers  pay  in  the  average  a  full  dollar 
(specie)  per  pound,  over  and  above  the  tax  which  goes 
into  our  Federal  treasury,  has  doubtless  been  bought  of 
the  grower  for  twenty  to  thirty  cents  per  pound ;  the 
residue  of  its  cost  to  the  consumer  (less  tax)  being  made 
up  of  the  profits  and  charges  of  the  various  traders  and 
forwarders,  agents  and  brokers,  through  whose  hands  it 
has  passed  on  its  way  from  the  interior  of  China  to  the 
interior  of  the  United  States, 

I  want  to  save  the  millions  on  millions  thus  annually 
expended,  —  I  believe  xiselessly,  wastefully  expended.  I 
want  to  divide  them  between  the  grower  and  the  con- 
sumer of  tea,  or  to  secure  them  to  him  where  the  same 
person  shall  be  both  grower  and  consumer.  I  believe 
that  to  pursue  this  policy  is  to  increase  the  reward  of 
Labor  generally,  and  especially  of  American  Labor.  In- 
stead of  one  thousand  persons  growing  tea  in  China,  one 
thousand  more  mining  gold  and  silver  in  Nevada  to  pay 
for  that  tea,  and  other  three  or  four  thousands  employed 
as  merchants,  factors,  shippers,  navigators,  canal-boat 
men,  brokers,  &c.,  &c.,  &c.,  in  transmitting  the  tea  from 
the  grower  to  the  consumer,  exchanging  his  product  for 
the  gold  and  silver  wherewith  the  Chinese  are  mainly  paid, 
and  forwarding  that  gold  and  silver  (or  some  equivalent)  to 
the  tea-grower,  I  would  have  two  thousands  of  our  own  peo- 
ple growing  tea,  two  thousands  more  producing  the  various 
staples  and  fabrics  that  our  tea-growers  would  require  in 
exchange  for  it,  reduce  the  whole  number  required  to 
effect  the  necessary  exchanges  to  one  thousand,  and  save 


32  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

the  gold  and  silver  to  reinforce  our  now  dishonored  Cur- 
rency and  pay  off  our  enormous  Debt. 

Now  I  protest  that,  in  maturing  and  avowing  this  con- 
viction, I  have  been  nowise  impelled  by  contempt  or 
hate  of  the  Chinese,  —  of  their  paganism,  their  poly- 
gamy, their  pigtails,  or  their  reputed  fondness  for  stewed 
puppies.  Whatever  there  may  be  of  evil  or  of  good  in 
their  peculiarities  lies  entirely  outside  of  the  range  of 
my  economic  conceptions  and  impulses.  Nor  have  I 
been  swayed  by  any  special  addiction  to  tea,  or  to  tea- 
growing,  nor  by  any  desire  to  enrich  present  or  prospec- 
tive tea-growers,  much  less  to  endow  them  with  a 
monopoly,  gainful  to  them  but  baleful  to  all  others.  I 
have  no  peculiar  affection  for  them,  — •  no  desire  to  pro- 
mote their  interest  otherwise  than  as  it  is  identified  with 
the  general  good.  I  perceive  and  admit  the  possibility 
that  certain  persons  might,  by  an  early  importation  of 
tea-seed,  or  by  growing  large  quantities  of  tea-plants  for 
sale  in  advance  of  most  others,  secure  to  themselves 
peculiar  advantages ;  but  this  is  an  incident  which  I  did 
not  desire,  and  care  not  to  obviate.  I  do  not  see  how 
those  persons  can  be  jxistly  reproached  as  monopolists, 
any  more  than  the  grower  of  a  new  American  grape  or 
seedling  potato.  And,  if  they  should  proceed  to  grow 
tea  in  advance  of  their  neighbors,  and  should  sell  their 
early  crops  at  exceptionally  high  prices,  I  should  be 
rather  inclined  to  rejoice  over  than  deprecate  their  good 
fortune,  because  I  am  sure  it  would  incite  more  and  more 
to  embark  in  American  tea-growing,  till  the  profit  there- 
of should  be  reduced  to  an  equation  with  that  of  other 
departments  of  our  National  Industry.  Unless  a  regard 
for  self-interest  has  been  eliminated  from  human  nature, 
and  water  has  ceased  to  run  down  hill,  this  consequence 
of  large  profits  accruing  in  a  pursuit  open  to  all  is  inevi- 
table ;  and  it  is  this  that  I  seek  by  Protection  to  secure. 


COMMERCE  — :_  EXCHANGES.  33 

"  But  how  do  you  know  that  tea  would  be  cheapened 
to  our  people  by  home  production  ? " 

I  do  not  know  that  the  seaboard  price  would  be  re- 
duced, though  I  firmly  believe  it  ultimately  would  be. 
Of  the  hundred  leading  products  which  we  formerly 
imported  almost  or  quite  exclusively,  and  which  we  have 
naturalized  on  our  soil  by  Protection,  I  am  confident 
that  not  less  than  ninety  are  now  supplied  to  our  people 
at  a  lower  cash  price  than  they  were  previously,  or  could 
now  be  in  the  absence  of  such  naturalization.  A  few 
of  them  might  sell  cheaper  in  the  seaboard  cities  if 
imported ;  but  they  -would  be  dearer,  in  the  average, 
throughout  the  country.  Thus  the  prices  habitually 
quoted,  of  such  bulky  staples  as  Salt  and  Pig  Iron,  are 
those  which  rule  in  New  York ;  but  our  home  product 
of  those  important  articles  is  made  at  various  points 
throughout  the  interior,  where  they  are  nearer  to  the 
great  body  of  our  consumers,  and  hence  more  valuable 
to  them,  than  if  laid  down  in  the  Commercial  Empo- 
rium. A  ton  of  Saginaw  or  Kanawha  salt,  that  would 
be  twice  as  dear  in  New  York  as  one  brought  from 
Turk's  Island,  may  nevertheless  be  cheaper  to  its  con- 
sumers in  Kentucky  or  Wisconsin  than  foreign  salt 
could  be,  even  in  the  absence  of  any  impost  at  all,  — 
the  expense  of  transportation,  which  enhances  the  price 
of  imported  salt  to  Western  consumers,  reducing  the 
relative  cost,  to  them,  of  home-made  salt.  So  of  every 
staple  of  considerable  bulk  or  weight.  Yet  all  the  cal- 
culations and  comparisons  of  Free-Traders  are  based  on 
the  prices  which  rule  in  the  seaboard  cities,  where  im- 
ported articles  are  cheapest,  and  their  home-made  rivals 
always  relatively,  and  often  positively,  dearest. 

I  may  now  properly  consider  the  uniform  assumption 
of  Free-Traders  that  Protection  is  a  device  of  wealthy 
capitalists,  who,  having  somehow  secured  a  monopoly  of 
2*  c 


34  POLITICAL-  ECONOMY. 

our  markets,  wish  to  be  upheld  by  law  in  their  gainful 
privilege  of  selling  therein  bad  and  dear  fabrics  in  pref- 
erence to  such  as  are  good  and  cheap.  All  tolerably 
informed  persons  must  be  aware  that  this  assumption 
is  a  flagrant  defiance  of  history.  Whoever  will  consult 
Alexander  Hamilton's  Report  on  Manufactures,  the  writ- 
ings of  Matthew  Carey,  Hezekiah  Niles,  and  their  com- 
peers, with  the  speeches  of  Henry  Clay,  Thomas  New- 
ton, James  Tod,  Walter  Forward,  Rollin  C.  Mallary,  and 
other  forensic  champions  of  Protection,  with  the  Mes- 
sages of  our  earlier  Presidents,  of  Governors  Simon 
Snyder,  George  Clinton,  Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  De  Witt 
Clinton,  &c.,  &c.,  cannot  fail  to  note  that  they  cham- 
pioned, not  the  maintenance,  but  the  creation  of  home 
manufactures,  —  not  mainly  the  preservation  of  existing 
interests  and  industries,  but  the  naturalizing  or  calling 
into  life  of  pursuits  new  to  our  countrymen ;  and  this 
not  for  the  sake,  primarily,  of  those  who  should  thus  be 
incited  to  manufacture,  or  drawn  hither  from  Europe  to 
plant  their  arts  on  our  soil,  but  for  the  benefit,  directly 
and  mainly,  of  those  who  then  were,  and  would  proba- 
bly remain,  farmers.  In  their  day,  manufactures  were 
unknown  to  or  in  their  rude  infancy  among  our  people, 
of  whom  fully  seven-eighths  were  subsisted  by  agricul- 
ture, and  a  full  tenth  by  commerce,  navigation,  and  the 
simpler  mechanic  arts ;  leaving  but  a  minute  fraction 
engaged  in  the  arduous,  difficult  task  of  naturalizing  a 
few  of  the  ruder,  simpler  manufactures  on  our  soil,  with 
scarcely  a  skirmish-line  of  legislative  defence  against  a 
powerful,  determined,  often  crushing,  foreign  rivalry. 
The  main  considerations  which  impelled  our  early 
champions  of  Protection  were  fairly  and  forcibly  set 
forth  by  General  Jackson,  in  his  well-known  letter  to 
Dr.  L.  H.  Coleman,  of  Virginia,  wherein,  near  the  close 
of  our  country's  first  half-century  of  independence,  and 


COMMERCE  —  EXCHANGES.  35 

wjien  he  had  been  for  thirty  years  conspicuously  active 
hi  every  sphere  of  public  life,  in  the  very  crisis  of  the 
struggle  for  Protection  as  a  recognized  and  cardinal  fea- 
ture of  our  national  policy,  he  said  :  — 

"  I  will  ask  what  is  the  real  situation  of  the  agriculturist  ? 
Where  has  the  American  farmer  a  market  for  his  surplus  pro- 
ducts? Except  for  cotton,  he  has  neither  a  foreign  nor  a 
home  market.  Does  not  this  clearly  prove,  when  there  is  no 
market  either  at  home  or  abroad,  that  there  is  too  much  labor 
employed  in  agriculture  ?  and  that  the  channels  of  labor 
should  be  multiplied  ?  Common  sense  points  out  at  once 
the  remedy.  Draw  from  agriculture  the  superabundant  la- 
bor, employ  it  in  mechanism  and  manufactures,  thereby  cre- 
ating a  home  market  for  your  breadstuffs,  and  distributing 
labor  to  a  most  profitable  account,  and  benefits  to  the  coun- 
try will  result.  Take  from  agriculture  in  the  United  States 
six  hundred  thousand  men,  women,  and  children,  and  you  at 
once  give  a  home  market  for  more  breadstuffs  than  all  Eu- 
rope now  furnishes.  In  short,  sir,  we  have  been  too  long 
subject  to  the  policy  of  British  merchants.  It  is  time  we 
should  become  a  little  more  Americanized,  and,  instead  of 
feeding  the  paupers  and  laborers  of  Europe,  feed  our  own,  or 
else,  in  a  short  time,  by  continuing  our  present  policy,  we 
shall  be  paupers  ourselves. 

"  It  is  therefore  my  opinion  that  a  careful  tariff  is  much 
wanted  to  pay  our  national  debt,  and  afford  us  the  means  of 
that  defence  within  ourselves  on  which  the  safety  and  liberty 
of  our  country  depend,  and  last,  though  not  least,  give  a 
proper  distribution  to  our  labor,  which  must  prove  beneficial 
to  the  happiness,  independence,  and  wealth  of  the  commu- 
nity." 

I  have  cited  this  familiar  passage  to  prove  the  state 
of  facts  theu  existing,  and  the  considerations  which  im- 
pelled many  of  our  foremost  men  to  advocate  Protection 
as  a  remedy  for  existing  and  formidable  evils.  True,  I 
hold  the  views  thus  expressed  judicious  and  every  way 
sound,  while  by  others  they  are  decisively  condemned 


36  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

and  rejected ;  but  even  these  must  concede  their  value 
as  testimony,  both  as  to  our  then  subsisting  economic 
condition  and  to  the  views  which  impelled  our  wiser 
statesmen  to  seek  a  remedy  through  Protection. 

Yet  again,  I  call  attention  to  General  Jackson's  preg- 
nant testimony  in  exposure  of  the  fallacy  which  repre- 
sents Free  Trade  as  affording  the  farmer  a  choice  of 
two  markets,  while  Protection  would  confine  him  to  one. 
Our  markets  were  then  glutted  with  foreign  metals, 
wares,  and  fabrics,  admitted  at  very  moderate  rates  of 
duty  ;  yet  General  Jackson  testifies  that,  "  except  for 
cotton,  we  have  neither  a  foreign  nor  a  home  market " 
for  our  agricultural  products,  and  insists  that  we  must 
create  one  by  fostering  and  building  up  domestic  manu- 
factures. Now  it  may  be  said  that  the  British  Corn 
Laws  (since  repealed)  were  the  chief  cause  of  this 
dearth  of  demand  for  our  food  staples  ;  but  the  obsta- 
cles interposed  by  nature  to  their  sale  abroad  at  a  profit 
are  permanent,  and  more  formidable  than  those  devised 
by  man.  Those  6dible  products  which  the  farmer  grows 
with  comparative  ease  and  to  greatest  profit  —  grass, 
fruit,  vegetables,  &c.,  &c.  —  must  find  a  market  near 
the  point  of  production  or  they  cannot  be  disposed  of  at 
all  without  ruinous  loss.  They  are  too  bulky  or  too 
perishable  to  bear  transportation  to  distant  consumers. 

Some  twelve  or  fourteen  years  ago  (since  the  British 
Corn  Laws  were  repealed)  I  visited  Iowa  City,  then  the 
capital  of  the  State,  barely  fifty-six  miles  from  the  Mis- 
sissippi, with  which,  as  with  the  whole  country  this  side, 
it  was  in  direct  communication  by  railroad.  It  was  mid- 
winter ;  the  streets  of  that  city  were  thronged  through- 
out the  day  by  the  farmers  of  the  vicinage,  each  with  his 
great  wagon  heaped  w'ith  Indian-corn,  which  he  was  try- 
ing to  sell  at  fifteen  cents  per  (shelled)  bushel.  When 
one  succeeded  (which  he  did  with  difficulty,  since  the 


COMMERCE  —  EXCHANGES.  37 

supply  exceeded  the  demand),  he  had  to  take  his  pay  in 
the  vilest  shinplasters  ever  fabricated,  purporting  to  be 
notes  of  the  "  Bank  of  Florence,"  Nebraska,  but  all  issued 
and  reissued  in  Iowa,  and  occasionally  redeemed  there  at 
ten  to  twenty-five  per  cent,  discount.  It  was  useless  to 
refuse  or  grumble,  for  there  was  no  other  money  (?)  to  be 
had,  and  the  farmers  must  obtain  groceries  and  pay  over- 
due bills  somehow.  This  corn  was  then  worth  in  New 
York  at  least  five,  and  in  New  England  six  times  the 
price  ruling  in  Iowa  City ;  in  Old  England,  doubtless, 
still  more  :  but  the  cost  of  transporting  it  thither  from 
Iowa  would  have  eaten  up  the  gross  proceeds.  Not  by 
tariffs  on  either  shore  of  the  Atlantic  was  corn-growing 
in  Iowa  rendered  thus  unprofitable,  but  by  the  inevi- 
table cost  of  transporting  so  bulky  a  staple  across  half  a 
continent  and  a  broad  ocean  in  quest  of  purchasers  and 
consumers.  It  is  possible  that  such  cost  has  sin.ce  been 
somewhat  reduced,  but  it  still  amounts  to  a  virtual  pro- 
hibition. That  the  recompense  of  farming  in  Iowa  has 
since  been  materially  increased,  is  due  mainly  to  the  fact 
that  cities,  villages,  factories,  furnaces,  founderies,  &c., 
&c.,  have  meantime  been  established  or  enlarged  within 
or  near  her  borders,  signally  increasing  the  money  value 
of  her  staples,  by  bringing  adequate  markets  much  nearer 
than  they  were  to  her  farmers.  In  other  words,  the 
policy  so  forcibly  commended  by  General  Jackson  has 
been  adopted,  and  the  results  foreshadowed  by  him  have 
been  measurably  realized. 

And  here  let  me  notice  the  cavil  which  runs  thus  : 
"  If  Protection  is  good  on  the  large  scale,  why  not  on  the 
small  1  If  the  United  States  should  be  fenced  about  by 
a  tariff,  why  not  Illinois  or  Rhode  Island  1 "  In  its 
original  form,  this  quip  applied  to  the  substitution  of 
stoves  for  fire-places  when  it  had  become  desirable, 
through  the  diminution  of  our  forests,  to  economize  fuel ; 


38  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

and  it  ran  thus,  "  If  one  stove  will  save  half  the  fuel, 
why  not  buy  two,  and  save  it  all  ? "  Such  logic  may 
provoke  a  smile,  but  can  hardly  require  serious  refuta- 
tion. The  fact  that  every  industrial  pursuit,  and  es- 
pecially every  one  that  requires  a  heavy  concentration 
of  capital,  skill,  machinery,  &c.,  to  insure  its  successful 
prosecution,  must  have  "  room  to  turn  itself,"  —  a  rea- 
sonably capacious  area  upon  which  to  find  customers  and 
consumers,  —  is  too  obvious  to  require  demonstration. 
To  argue  thence  that  there  should  be  no  tariffs  is  to  in- 
sist that,  since  cattle  are  benefited  by  a  change  of  pas- 
ture, therefore  the  grazing  portion  of  each  farm  should 
be  fenced  into  so  many  pastures  as  there  are  days  in  the 
year.  Canada  has  cheaper  labor  and  cheaper  capital 
than  the  United  States  ;  yet  my  question  last  winter, 
"  Why  not  establish  cotton  and  woollen  factories  here  in 
Montreal  1 "  was  parried  by  another,  "  Where  are  our 
markets  1 "  —  those  of  Europe  being  remote  and  unre- 
munerative,  —  those  of  the  United  States  at  hand,  yet 
virtually  inaccessible,  —  those  of  British  America  con- 
venient, but  inadequate.  The  cost  of  diffusing  and  ex- 
changing the  products  of  agriculture  and  manufactures 
respectively  throughout  a  country  may  be  decidedly 
less  than  if  everything  needed  by  its  people  were  re- 
quired to  be  produced  on  each  square  league  of  its  area ; 
though  it  would  nevertheless  be  ruinous  to  send  the 
ores,  cotton,  wool,  and  food  of  one  continent  to  another, 
and  receive  back  their  proceeds  in  the  form  of  wares  and 
fabrics.  In  this,  as  in  many  things,  there  is  a  just,  be- 
neficent medium  between  extremes  ;  and  that  medium  is 
not  always  determined  by  the  prices  that  rule  in  the 
open  market,  as  I  shall  aim  to  show  hereafter. 

This,  then,  is  our  position  respecting  Commerce : 
that  it  has  a  broad,  though  not  a  boundless,  field  of  le- 
gitimate and  benignant  activity  ;  that  it  should  be  the 


COMMERCE  —  EXCHANGES.  39 

servant,  not  the  master,  of  Industry ;  that  it  should 
interchange  the  productions  of  diverse  zones  and  cli- 
mates, following,  in  its  trans-oceanic  voyages,  lines  of 
longitude  oftener  than  those  of  latitude,  and  aiding  to 
disseminate  useful  arts  and  processes  rather  than  serv- 
ing to  discourage  and  retard  such  diffusion  by  crushing 
out  infantile  and  crude  essays  at  their  establishment  in 
countries  to  which  they  have  hitherto  been  strangers. 
This  they  may  do,  and  often  have  done,  by  bringing  to 
bear  disastrously  upon  the  young  aspirants  the  fatal 
competition  of  their  older  and  far  stronger  rivals,  located 
in  lands  where  those  arts  were  long  since  cradled,  and 
wherein  they  have  attained,  through  ages  of  prosperous 
growth,  a  ripe  and  hardy  maturity.  Such  competition 
is  neither  just  in  its  essence  nor  benignant  in  its  effects. 
It  impels  the  trained  and  mailed  veteran  to  mortal  com- 
bat with  the  green,  unarmed  stripling  who  is  yet  a 
novice  in  the  art  of  war.  "  Let  every  one  look  out  for 
himself !  "  brayed  the  donkey  dancing  among  chickens  ; 
which  might  answer  for  the  donkey,  but  not  so  well  for 
the  chickens.  Industry  has  its  campaigns  and  its  battle- 
fields, and  is  not  yet  beyond  the  need  of  intrenchments 
and  fortifications.  How  these  are  to  be  constructed, 
armed,  and  manned,  I  shall  endeavor  to  indicate  in  the 
following  chapters. 


40  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 


III. 

CAPITAL  —  SKILL  —  INVENTION  —  INTEL- 
LECTUAL PROPERTY. 

CAPITAL  is  the  unconsumed  and  unwasted  remainder 
of  the  fruits  or  proceeds  of  Industry.  He  who  spends 
as  fast  as  he  earns  accumulates  no  capital :  the  first  man 
•who  ever  produced  or  fashioned  any  substance  for  use 
beyond  his  instant  need  was  the  first  capitalist.  The 
absolute  savage,  fixed  to  no  place,  and  living  from  hand 
to  mouth  on  the  spontaneous  bounties  of  Nature,  is  as 
nearly  devoid  of  capital  as  a  human  being  well  can  be. 
The  moment  he  begins  to  work  or  save  for  the  satisfac- 
tion of  his  wants  that  stretch  beyond  the  present  hour, 
he  becomes  in  some  sort  a  capitalist,  feeling  the  instinct 
as  well  as  the  need  of  accumulation.  The  hireling  of 
civilization,  who  "  lives  as  he  goes  along,"  often  spending 
by  night  in  dissipation  more  than  he  earns  by  day,  and 
usually  in  debt  for  board  and  clothing  to  the  full  extent 
of  his  worldly  goods  or  beyond  it,  is  more  destitute  of 
capital  than  the  average  barbarian.  Apart  from  bank- 
rupts, almost  every  adult  freeman  is  to  some  extent  a 
capitalist. 

Civilization  is  founded  on  accumulated  Capital  and 
systematic  Labor.  It  cannot  dispense  with  either. 
Though  all  men  should  work  diligently,  efficiently, 
through  each  day,  yet,  if  they  spent  as  fast  as  they 
earned,  civilized  society  must  perish,  and  human  exist- 
ence be  maintained  with  difficulty,  if  at  all.  The  bar- 
room loafer  who  decries  Capital  could  not  survive  the 
next  hard  Winter  without  its  aid.  He  lives,  at  least 


CAPITAL.  41 

through  the  inclement  season,  on  that  which  others 
more  provident  have  saved  and  stored  against  a  time  of 
need.  He  may  or  may  not  render  a  prompt  and  fair 
equivalent ;  but,  in  the  absence  of  capitalists,  opportun- 
ity to  make  the  indispensable  trade  would  be  wanting. 
There  is  none  so  poor  or  wretched  that  Capital  —  earned 
and  owned  by  others  —  has  not  already  saved  him  from 
perishing  of  want,  as  it  doubtless  will  do  again  and  again. 
Capital,  justly  acquired  and  wisely  employed,  is  every 
one's  friend,  smoothing  the  ruggedness  and  lessening  the 
discomfort  of  even  the  most  forlorn  and  hapless  career. 

Capital  is  at  odds  with  Destitution  when,  and  only 
when,  it  monopolizes  the  bounties  of  Nature,  and  either 
denies  their  use  to  the  needy  or  exacts  an  exorbitant 
price  therefor.  For  Nature,  though  apt  to  be  stern  in 
her  requirements,  does  yet  garnish  the  earth  at  seasons 
with  spontaneous  fruits  of  her  bounty,  —  Vegetables, 
Roots,  Fruits,  Nuts,  &c., — at  once  palatable  and  nutri- 
tious, —  which  signally  conduce  to  the  sustenance  and 
solace  of  Man.  Capital,  finding  or  deeming  the  par- 
tition of  lands  indispensable  to  their  thorough  improve- 
ment and  efficient  cultivation,  declares  the  soil,  with  all 
upon  it,  the  rightful  property  of  designated  individuals, 
and  makes  whoever  intrudes  thereon  a  trespasser  in  viola- 
tion of  la'w.  Herein  is  natural  right  restricted  in  the  in- 
terest of  Property,  which,  on  the  other  hand,  is  compelled 
to  fence  and  bolt,  lock  and  guard,  against  the  depredations 
of  those  who  would  appropriate  and  enjoy  that  which 
they  never  produced  or  earned.  If  the  rights  of  Capital 
were  never  stretched  beyond  their  proper  limits,  the 
tendency  to  override  them  might  be  modified. 

In  laying  down  the  foregoing  premises,  I  believe  I  do 
not  differ  essentially  from  the  accredited  teachers  of 
Political  Economy,  who  have  expended  many  more  words 
on  the  subject ;  though  I  have  failed  to  recognize  the 


42  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

distinction,  strenuously  insisted  on  by  some  if  not  by 
all  of  them,  between  Wealth  and  Capital.  All  Capital 
is  Wealth,  of  course ;  but  all  Wealth  is  not  (in  their 
view)  Capital,  which  is  restricted,  in  their  conception,  to 
that  portion  or  kind  of  Wealth  which  directly  ministers 
to  the  creation  of  other  Wealth,  through  the  employ- 
ment and  recompense  of  Labor.  The  distinction  seems 
to  me  unimportant  if  not  wholly  illusory.  A  youth 
just  of  age  works  faithfully  and  lives  frugally  through 
his  first  year  of  independence,  and  has  a  net  surplus  of 
one  hundred  dollars  paid  him  by  his  employer  at  the 
close.  This  now  is  his  Capital.  He  buys  with  it  a  gold 
watch  for  his  own  wearing,  and  now  he  has  no  Capital ; 
but  to-morrow,  having  a  chance  to  sell  his  watch  for  a 
horse  with  which  he  proposes  to  grow  on  shares  a  field 
of  corn  next  season,  he  makes  the  trade,  and  becomes 
again  a  capitalist.  He  grows  the  corn,  and,  having  sold 
it  with  his  horse,  at  the  close  of  his  second  year  finds 
himself  worth  three  hundred  dollars  in  cash,  —  all  Capi- 
tal ;  but,  being  tempted  to  marry,  he  invests  it  all  in  a 
house  in  which  to  reside  after  marriage,  and,  not  regard- 
ing this  as  an  element  or  instrument  of  production,  he 
is  again  without  Capital.  It  seems  to  me  safer  and 
simpler  to  regard  all  Wealth  as  Capital,  though  for  the 
moment  it  may  be  but  potentially,  passively  'so.  This 
by  no  means  ignores  the  truth  that  both  Labor  and  Capi- 
tal may  be  injudiciously,  wastefully  invested  or  expended, 
nay,  —  that  Labor-  may  be  so  wretchedly  misapplied  as 
to  produce  no  Wealth  at  all.  The  ruins  of  ancient  capi- 
tals like  Tadmor,  Thebes,  or  Palmyra,  are  not  capital, 
and  can  be  made  to  yield  little  or  no  wealth  ;  the  Pyra- 
mids cost  a  vast  amount  of  labor,  yet  have  no  pecuniary 
value  ;  the  remains  of  the  Coliseum  or  of  Pompeii  have 
very  little.  I  fully  concur  in  the  assumption  that  a 
prodigal's  lavish  expenditure  no  more  contributes,  in  the 


CAPITAL.  43 

large  view,  to  the  relief  of  poverty  than  to  the  increase 
of  national  wealth.  The  drunken  idiot  or  maniac  who 
sows  the  street  with  dollars,  to  be  scrambled  for  by  the 
mob,  does  not  befriend — he  rather  debauches — his  scuf- 
fling, struggling,  shouting  followers.  I  fully  insist  that  he 
who  makes  and  saves,  though  already  possessed  of  vast 
wealth,  is  a  greater  benefactor  to  the  poor  than  though 
he  were  content  to  riot,  spend,  and  squander.  But,  when 
I  read  that  the  wages  of  the  poor  necessarily  rise  or  fall 
with  the  increase  of  the  wealth  of  the  rich,  I  hesitate 
and  demur.  Put  it  in  the  less  positive  form  of  the  first 1 
of  Mr.  Mill's  "  Fundamental  Propositions  respecting 
Capital,"  viz. , "  That  Industry  is  limited  by  Capital," 
and  I  deem  it  still  too  sweeping.  Do  we  not  all  know 
that  capital  was  very  scarce  as  well  as  dear  in  California 
throughout  the  year  (1849)  following  the  discovery  of 
gold,  yet  labor  has  rarely  been  anywhere  in  more  eager 
demand,  or  more  bounteously  rewarded,  than  just  then 
and  there  ]  To-day,  the  wealth  of  California  must  be 
thrice  as  much  per  head  as  it  was  in  1849  or  either  of 
the  three  following  years  ;  yet  labor  is  neither  in  such 
eager  demand  nor  so  generously  recompensed  as  it  then 
was.  I  am  far  enough  from  wishing  to  assume  or  incite 
an  antagonism  between  Capital  and  Labor ;  I  firmly  be- 
lieve that,  other  things  being  equal,  an  increase  of  the 
wealth  of  a  country  per  head  is  advantageous  to  its 
poorer  classes  in  promising  them  ampler  and  steadier 
employment ;  yet,  in  so  far  as  it  tends  to  increase  the 
price  of  lands  and  other  fixed  property,  and  thus  impede 
the  transmutation  of  hirelings  into  independent  free- 
holders and  artisans  who  direct  their  own  labor,  it  is 
rather  a  bane  than  a  blessing  to  the  poor. 

Nor  do  I  admit  that  Capital  must  be  consumed  in 
order  to  render  it  productive.     It  may  be  consumed  in 

i  Principles  of  Political  Economy,  by  J.  S.  Mill,  Vol.  I.  Ch.  V. 


44  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

the  process  of  production,  and  often  is,  since  use  is  try- 
ing and  most  material  things  are  frail  and  perishable ; 
but  the  plough  that  has  broken  up  a  hundred  fertile  acres 
may  have  only  been  scoured  brighter  by  the  process,  and 
the  colt  that  has  been  judiciously  broken  and  inured  to 
labor  this  year  may  be  only  the  better  plough-horse  there- 
fore next  year.  What  is  generally  true  in  the  premises 
is  this  :  Industry  applies  itself  to  the  transmutation  of 
certain  substances  into  others  presumptively  of  greater 
value.  The  crop  of  wheat  grown  one  year,  being  appor- 
tioned into  seed  and  bread-corn,  is  in  part  paid  to  la- 
borers (directly  or  indirectly)  as  the  wages  of  their  labor, 
and  in  part  sowed  for  next  year's  harvest ;  and  the  crop, 
if  no  disaster  is  encountered,  is  reasonably  expected  to 
replenish  the  farmer's  granary  and  leave  a  surplus  for 
sale. 

The  material  wealth  which  has  been  amassed  by  man- 
kind throughout  thousands  of  years  is  of  incalculable 
amount  and  value.  Apart  from  that  held  by  individ- 
uals, the  churches  and  other  public  edifices,  canals, 
roads,  railways,  bridges,  literature,  paintings,  sculpture, 
&c.,  &c.,  though  their  cost  was  enormous,  are  worth  far 
more  than  that.  Immense  is  our  indebtedness  to  the 
genius,  industry,  and  thrift  of  past  ages  for  the  wealth 
they  have  bequeathed  us,  and  signal  our  obligation  to 
transmit  these  blessings,  not  merely  unimpaired,  but  en- 
hanced, to  those  who  will  come  after  us. 

And,  however  great  our  obligation  to  the  departed  for 
the  palpable,  material  wealth  they  bequeathed  us,  they 
have  laid  us  under  still  greater  obligation  by  their  mag- 
nificent legacy  of  experience  and  skill.  Having  this, 
we  might  in  time,  were  they  all  swept  away,  recreate 
most  of  our  worldly  possessions  ;  deprived  of  it,  we  could 
scarcely,  and  with  great  difficulty,  preserve  our  bare 
lives.  The  teeming  millions  of  China  are  constantly 


SKILL  —  INVENTION.  45 

near  the  brink  of  starvation,1  which  many  of  them  daily 
overpass;  less,  I  apprehend,  because  of  the  density  of 
their  population  than  of  the  rudeness  and  inefficiency  of 
their  labor-saving  devices.  On  the  other  hand,  so  pro- 
digious has  been  the  progress  of  invention  in  Europe 
that  the  steam-engines  of  Great  Britain  alone  have  been 
estimated  as  equivalent  in  force,  if  not  in  productive 
capacity,  to  six  hundred  millions  of  men.  Cheap  beyond 
comparison  as  is  the  labor  of  Eastern  Asia,  the  machin- 
ery of  Great  Britain  competes  with  it  in  its  own  mar- 
kets, rivals  it,  undersells  its  products  at  the  very  doors 
of  the  producers,  divests  them  of  employment,  and 
dooms  them  to  die  of  famine.  In  my  early  boyhood, 
Chinese  cotton  fabrics,  known  as  Nankins,  &c.,  were  ex- 
tensively worn,  even  by  the  poor,  in  New  England ;  but 
that  trade  was  destroyed  by  British  and  American  power- 
looms  nearly  half  a  century  ago  ;  and  now  the  peasantry 
of  China  and  India  are  largely  clad  in  the  products  of 
those  looms.  Cotton  grown  in  India  is  extensively 
shipped  to  England,  there  spun  and  woven,  returned  in 
the  shape  of  fabrics  to  India,  and  there  worn  all  but  ex- 
clusively by  those  among  whom  it  was  grown,  who  would 
gladly  have  spun  and  woven  it  for  six-pence  sterling  per 
day's  work,  yet  who  paid  the  cost  of  two  journeys  around 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  that  of  the  British  manufacture, 
the  interest  on  its  value  during  its  long  absence,  and  the 
profits  of  several  mercantile  transfers,  and  yet  were  sup- 
plied with  it  in  the  market  of  India  at  lower  cash  prices 
than  her  own  looms  could  afford. 

Now  I  would  not  have  had  India  rest  content  evermore 
with  her  rude,  inefficient,  antiquated  hand-looms,  and  for 
their  sake  exclude  the  cheaper  fabrics  of  the  Occident ; 

1  Mr.  Burlingame  informed  me  that  the  estimated  loss  of  life  in 
China  by  reason  of  the  late  formidable  "  Taeping"  rebellion  was  no 
less  than  twelve  millions  of  human  beings,  most  of  whom  died  of  want. 


46  POLITICAL   ECONOMY. 

but  I  would  have  had  her  say  in  effect  to  her  spinners 
and  weavers :  "  Purchase  and  import,  or  rival  and  sur- 
pass, the  British  machinery,  and  acquire  the  skill  needed 
to  work  it ;  meantime,  the  duties  on  imported  fabrics, 
•whether  British  or  other,  shall  be  fixed  so  that  you  can- 
not be  undersold  and  driven  from  the  home  market 
while  you  are  making  the  requisite  experiments  and 
efforts."  I  would  have  done  this,  had  I  been  in  power  in 
India,  in  the  interest  primarily  of  my  own  country  and 
her  people,  .but  ultimately  in  that  of  Labor  everywhere, 
and  the  permanent  well-being  of  the  whole  human  race. 
In  the  infancy  of  our  country,  there  were  those  who 
honestly  believed  and  argued  that  she  should  sedulously 
eschew  all  species  of  manufactures,  and  devote  her  in- 
dustry wholly  to  agriculture,  as  the  nobler,  more  health- 
ful, more  invigorating  pursuit,  and  that  which  would 
most  surely  conserve  the  virtues  and  the  liberties  of  her 
people.1  This,  in  practice,  would  have  constrained  our 
people  to  cling  to  the  coast  of  the  Atlantic  and  the  val- 
leys of  the  navigable  rivers  which  pay  tribute  to  that 
ocean.  True,  they  would  have  ultimately  constructed 
canals  and  railroads  reaching  out  into  the  broad  West ; 
but  the  cost  of  transporting  grain  and  other  bulky 
staples  thence  to  Europe  in  such  enormous  quantities 
as  would  have  been  required  to  pay  for  all  the  wares 
and  fabrics  we  require,  would  have  eaten  up  three 
fourths  of  the  proceeds,  and  kept  the  growers  poor  and 
in  debt  evermore.  Were  "  our  workshops  in  Europe  " 
(as  Hamilton's  antagonists  contended  that  they  should 
be  and  remain),  we  could  not  have  sold  abroad  our  raw 
staples  of  food  and  clothing  in  the  requisite  quantities, 
but  must  have  lived  in  rude  poverty  indefinitely.  That 
our  people  are  ingenious  and  energetic  is  undoubted ;  but 

*  See  Alexander  Hamilton's  celebrated  Report,  as  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  on  Manufactures  — 1791. 


SKILL  —  INVENTION.  47 

they  would  have  found  it  no  more  easy  to  make  brick 
without  straw  than  did  the  Israelites  in  their  Egyptian 
captivity.  No  great  invention  ever  yet  sprang  full- 
armed  from  the  brain  of  its  author ;  as  a  general  rule, 
none  but  a  weaver  invents  or  improves  a  loom ;  and 
nearly  every  machine  of  great  value  is  the  product  of  a 
score  of  successive  inventions,  by  nearly  so  many  differ- 
ent laborers  thereon.  Those  countries  only  which  cher- 
ish and  delight  in  labor-saving  devices  have  added  aught 
of  moment  to  the  world's  inestimable  aggregate  thereof. 
Europe  could  not  now  afford  for  a  billion  of  dollars  to 
lose  the  inventions  and  improvements  in  machinery  for 
which  she  is  indebted  to  America,  and  the  great  mass 
of  which,  in  all  human  probability,  would  never  have 
been,  had  the  policy  of  buying  from  Europe  every  article 
of  manufacture,  which  marked  and  fitted  the  era  of  our 
colonial  dependence,  been  persevered  in  to  this  day. 

Our  oldest  manufactures  are  naturally  our  cheapest 
and  best.  Europe  cannot  rival  our  axes,1  adzes,  and 
other  edge-tools  ;  nor  can  she  surpass,  either  in  quality 
or  cheapness,  the  spades  and  shovels  extensively  made 
by  one  Massachusetts  family  throughout  the  last  fifty 
years.  Cut-nails  are  an  American  idea ;  and  no  other 
nation  yet  makes  them  so  cheaply  or  half  so  abundantly. 
We  have  begun,  after  many  years'  trying,  to  make 
wrought-nails  also  by  machinery,  and  will  naturally  keep 
the  lead  in  this  department  also.  I  have  heard  that  the 
screw-auger,  whereby  the  cost  of  boring  holes  in  timbers 
was  reduced  more  than  half,  is  a  Connecticut  invention, 
and  never  patented,  though  its  value  to  mechanics  defies 


1  Colonel  Ashbel  Smith,  first  ambassador  to  Great  Britain  from  the 
Republic  of  Texas,  informed  me  that  he  (being  a  Southron)  purchased 
in  England,  on  his  first  visit,  a  supply  of  British  edge-tools,  and  sent 
them  home  for  sale;  but  their  quality  was  so  strikingly  inferior  to 
their  Yankee  rivals,  that  no  one  could  be  found  in  Texas  to  use  them. 


48  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

computation.  The  planing-machine,  the  innumerable 
reapers  and  mowers,  the  sewing-machine,  and  ever  so 
many  kindred  trophies  of  Yankee  genius  for  invention, 
have  enriched  not  our  country  only,  but  the  civilized 
world.  "And,  as  the  cotton-gin  would  surely  not  have 
been  invented  here  had  not  the  cotton  culture  preceded 
and  required  it,  so  the  arts,  in  the  prosecution  of  which 
other  American  inventions  were  called  into  being,  had  to 
be  previously  known  and  practised  among  us,  or  the 
world  must  have  waited  indefinitely  for  the  triumphs 
they  incited.  We  are,  I  rejoice  to  learn,  on  the  eve  of  a 
similar  stride  in  the  production  of  all  forms  of  wrought 
or  malleable  iron,  through  a  Pennsylvania  invention 
whereby  the  expensive  process  known  as  puddling  is 
to  be  superseded  or  immensely  reduced  in  cost ;  and 
a  thousand  other  beneficent  applications  of  inventive 
genius  to  the  cheapening  of  processes,  the  increase  of 
products,  are  on  the  point  of  practical  realization.  No 
man  can  truthfully  suggest  an  article  which,  having  for- 
merly been  wholly  imported,  has  since,  through  Pro- 
tection, been  so  naturalized  on  our  soil  that  it  is  now 
produced  here  nearly  to  the  extent  of  satisfying  our  own 
wants,  yet  which  now  costs  our  people  more  than  it  did 
•when  we  procured  it  from  abroad.  And  the  area  where- 
on such  achievements  are  possible  is  by  no  means  fully 
occupied.  We  shall  yet  make  our  own  crockery  and 
finer  kinds  of  pottery,  which  we  still  mainly  import, 
and  shall  grow  as  well  as  manufacture  the  silks  for  which 
we  are  still  mainly  indebted  to  the  insects  of  China  and 
the  looms  of  France,  we  having  in  California  a  more 
genial  climate  for  the  silk-worm  than  Europe  or  Asia  can 
boast ;  while  we  are  already  reeling  and  spinning,  on 
American  machinery  invented  for  the  purpose,  vast 
quantities  of  raw  silk  imported  in  an  imperfect  or  dam- 
aged condition  (answering  to  the  "  swingle-tow  "  of  flax), 


INTELLECTUAL   PROPERTY.  49 

which  all  the  ingenuity  and  patient  industry  of  "  the 
Flowery  Land"  had  given  up  as  hopelessly  intractable 
and  worthless.  So  shall  we  continue,  under  a  beneficent 
policy  of  encouragement  and  support,  to  develpp  new 
and  larger  possibilities  of  industrial  achievement,  and, 
in  expanding  and  diversifying  our  own  national  industry, 
benignantly  stimulate,  and  ultimately  renovate,  that  of 
all  mankind. 

The  rights  of  those  who  create  Intellectual  Property 
are  less  clearly  denned  —  perhaps  less  capable  of  unerr- 
ing definition  —  than  those  of  the  producers  or  trans- 
formers of  material  substances;  yet  they  seem  to  me 
not  less  real,  beneficent,  and  defensible.  Let  us  suppose 
that  four  brothers  commence  responsible  life  with  equal 
patrimonies,  equal  capacity,  and  like  habits  of  industry, 
temperance,  and  frugality.  Twenty  years  afterward,  one 
of  them,  who  has  devoted  his  energies  to  farming,  has  a 
fine  estate,  a  commodious  dwelling,  a  handsome  herd  of 
cattle,  a  good  collection  of  implements,  a  library,  and  all 
the  material  elements  of  independence  and  comfort.  A 
second  has  addressed  himself  to  the  construction  of 
locomotives,  and  has  done  as  well  thereby  as  his  farm- 
ing brother.  A  third  has  given  himself  up  to  the  study 
of  mechanics  and  engineering,  and  has,  after  many  dis- 
appointments, perfected  a  new  steam-engine,  whereby 
the  power  required  to  move  a  train  or  boat  of  so  many 
tons  at  a  given  rate  per  hour  is  reduced  at  least  twenty- 
five  per  cent.  The  fourth  has  addicted  himself  to 
literature,  art,  and  poetry,  and  has  produced  a  book 
which  one  hundred  thousand  of  our  people  annually 
read,  deriving  pleasure  and  instruction  therefrom  which 
they  would  rather  pay  him  for  than  forego.  I  ask  why 
this  inventor,  and  this  author,  have  not  fairly  earned, 
and  are  not  as  justly  entitled  to,  the  price  that  others 
prefer  to  give  rather  than  forego  the  advantage  or  pleas- 


50  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

ure  derived  from  their  products,  as  are  their  brethren, 
the  farmer  and  the  locomotive-builder,  to  a  like  remu- 
neration for  the  use  of  their  products'?  If,  as  Thiers 
forcibly  says,1  "  The  indestructible  foundation  of  the 
right  of  property  is  Labor,"  then,  surely,  the  right  of 
property  in  Elias  Howe  to  that  combination  of  the 
needle  with  the  shuttle  which  gave  practical  existence 
and  value  to  the  sewing-machine,  of  Alfred  Tennyson 
to  "The  Princess,"  "Maud,"  "In  Memoriam,"  and 
"  The  Lotus  Eaters,"  is  as  perfect  as  any  right  of  prop- 
erty can  be.  For  the  craftsman  merely  fashions,  adapts, 
or  recasts,  materials  coexistent  with  the  earth,  and 
which  may  be  regarded  as  in  some  sense  once  the  com- 
mon property  of  mankind  ;  while  the  inventor,  the  poet, 
builds  out  into  void  space,  makes  chaos  luminous,  and 
adds  potentially,  and  as  it  were  by  original  creation,  to  the 
enduring  wealth  of  mankind.  I  cannot  perceive  how  or 
why  his  right  of  property  in  his  product  is  not  at  least 
as  perfect  and  pervading  as  that  of  the  maker  of  a 
locomotive,  the  grower  of  grain. 

I  have  considered  what  has  been  urged  in  favor  of  a 

*  O 

restriction  of  this  right  of  property  to  the  material  thing 
wrought  upon,  —  to  the  particular  locomotive  built  by 
the  inventor,  the  author's  manuscript  copy  of  his  poem, 
—  and  it  seems  to  me  palpably  absurd.  For  what  the 
inventor  has  labored  twenty  years  to  perfect  is  not  the 
single  particular  locomotive  on  which  he  expended  his 
handiwork,  but  all  locomotives  to  be  thereafter  built ; 
his  efforts  were  incited  and  upheld  by  a  desire  to  make 
all  locomotives  henceforth  less  costly  or  more  efficient. 
This  he  has  achieved,  or  nothing ;  herein  he  has  suc- 
ceeded, or  not  at  all.  Once  completed,  the  machine 
whereon  he  has  labored  so  long  may  accidentally  take 

!  The  Rights  of  Property :  A  Refutation  of  Communism  and  So- 
cialism.   By  Adolphe  Thiers. 


INTELLECTUAL   PROPERTY.  51 

fire  and  burn  to  ashes,  yet  no  one,  surely,  would  thence 
infer  that  his  labor  had  been  in  vain. 

Suppose  that  one  who  differs  from  me  on  this  point 
were  to  drop  in  at  a  friend's  house,  while  some  one  was 
there  reading  aloud  Childe  Harold,  and  should  be  asked 
in  a  whisper  by  a  non-literary  acquaintance,  "Whose 
poem  is  that  1 "  I  cannot  doubt  that  he  would  truly 
answer,  "Lord  Byron's,"  no  matter  though  he  saw 
the  letter-press,  and  read  "  Published  by  Harper  and 
Brothers  "  on  the  title-page.  The  rights  of  author  and 
publisher  in  the  premises  are  perfectly  distinct,  and  no- 
wise clash  with  each  other.  The  fact  that  those  are  (or 
were)  citizens  of  different  countries,  natives  of  diverse 
hemispheres,  does  not  vitally  affect  them. 

I  deeply  regret  that  any  one  who  upholds  the  Rights 
of  Labor  and  the  duty  of  protecting  those  rights  de- 
volved on  Government  should  question  the  policy  of 
International  Copyright.  Were  there  no  other  reason 
than  that  afforded  by  patriotism,  I  should  insist  on 
according  copyright  to  foreign  authors.  In  its  absence, 
their  works  are  sold  in  our  markets  for  the  bare  cost  of 
paper  and  printing,  and  bought  because  of  their  relative 
cheapness  by  the  great  mass  of  our  less-instructed,  least- 
reflecting  readers,  whose  opinions  are  thus  moulded  by 
Bulwer,  Alison,  Disraeli,  Dickens,  Michelet,  Professor 
Wilson,  Victor  Hugo,  George  Sand,  Thackeray,  Wilkie 
Collins,  the  Trollopes,  Tar  more  than  by  our  own  best 
writers.  I  do  not  regret  that  foreign  authors  are  exten- 
sively read  here ;  I  do  not  deny  that  spme  of  them  are 
eminently  deserving  of  their  American  popularity ;  but 
I  protest  against  the  legislation,  or  lack  of  legislation, 
on  the  part  of  our  rulers,  whereby  foreign  works  are 
habitually  —  nay,  necessarily  —  proffered  cheaper  to 
our  people  than  those  of  our  own  authors.  This  is 
unjust  to  both  alike,  —  to  those  whom  it  deprives  of 


52  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

readers,  and  those  whom  it  gives  more  than  their  fair 
proportion  of  readers,  but  denies  compensation  for  their 
•work.  Walter  Scott  barely  escaped  dying  a  bankrupt, 
when  one  cent  per  volume  from  his  American  readers 
would  have  saved  him  from  pecuniary  embarrassment, 
smoothed  his  downhill  of  life,  and  perhaps  enabled  him 
to  live  longer  and  write  more  and  better.  I  wish  we 
had  rendered  him  naked  justice. 

As  to  the  abolition  of  the  Patent  system,  which  has 
of  late  been  infmentially  advocated,  I  shall  be  more 
easily  reconciled  to  it  when  I  learn  that  it  is  to  be  swift- 
ly followed  by  a  repudiation  of  all  rights  of  property 
whatever,  —  or,  more  strictly,  of  all  legal  guaranties 
and  defences  of  such  rights.  Whenever  the  laws  of  my 
country  shall  refuse  to  protect  the  inventor,  they  should, 
in  simple  consistency,  bid  the  land-owner,  the  bond- 
holder, the  merchant,  the  banker,  "  Take  care  of  your- 
self, and  of  all  that  you  call  your  own  !  "  Assuredly,  no 
man's  right  to  the  wild  lands  conceded  to  his  ancestor 
by  a  European  monarch  who  never  saw,  and  knew  not 
how  even  to  bound  them  accurately,  can  be  better  than 
that  of  Eli  Whitney  was  to  his  cotton-gin,  or  that  of 
Daguerre  to  photography.  When  these  shall  be  success- 
fully denied,  be  sure  that  no  rights  of  property  can  be 
secure. 

"  Then,  why  not  make  patents  and  copyright  absolute 
and  perpetual  1 "  is  often  asked.  I  answer,  there  are  no 
absolute  rights  of  property.  The  land  you  bought  of 
the  government  yesterday  may  be  taken  from  you  for 
the  bed  of  some  highway  or  railroad  to-morrow,  and  you 
have  no  redress.  All  rights  of  property  are  held  subor- 
dinate to  the  dictates  of  national  well-being ;  and  the 
government  will  batter  down  or  burn  to  ashes  your 
house,  if  it  shall  have  become  (through  no  fault  on  your 
part)  a  harbor  or  defence  of  public  enemies,  and  make 


INTELLECTUAL   PROPERTY.  53 

you  no  compensation  therefor.  I  only  insist  that  intel- 
lectual property  shall  be  recognized  by  law  as  standing 
on  a  common  foundation  with  other  property  and  equal- 
ly accorded  the  protection  of  the  state  and  the  respect 
of  all  who  hold  property  no  robbery,  but  justly  entitled 
to  deference  and  support  from  the  wise  and  the  good. 

The  right  of  an  author  to  compensation  for  his  labor 
from  so  many  as  choose  to  use  or  enjoy  its  product  being 
conceded,  it  would  be  proper  and  reasonable  for  our  gov- 
ernment to  say  in  effect  to  foreign  authors  :  "  Since  the 
ability  of  our  people  to  read  has  been  very  largely  in- 
creased by  the  systematic  appropriation  of  one  thirty- 
sixth  of  our  Public  Lands  to  the  support  of  Popular 
Education,  and  since  most  of  our  States  have  likewise 
expended  large  sums  in  promoting  the  same  good  work, 
thereby  vastly  increasing  the  sale  of  books  in  this  coun- 
try, we  fix  a  maximum  rate  or  percentage  on  the  selling 
price  which  you  may  exact  of  our  publishers  as  copyright, 
and  with  this  you  must  be  content."  I  hold  that  this 
would  be  in  accord  with  that  provision *  of  the  Federal 
Constitution  which  stipulates  that  private  property  should 
not  be  taken  for  public  use  without  just  compensation. 
I  hold  that  thus  may  public  interest  be  harmonized  with 
private  right,  and  our  country  made  to  assume  a  more 
creditable  position  among  the  nations  of  Christendom. 

1  Amendment  V. 


54  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

IV. 
MONEY  —  THE  BALANCE  OF  TRADE. 

THE  general  good  demanding  and  being  subserved  by 
the  widest  possible  diffusion  and  practice  of  regular, 
systematic  industry,  whatever  tends  to  incite  to  and  in- 
duce such  industry  must  be  accounted  as  In  so  far  a 
public  good.  And  prominent  among  the  agencies  which 
tend  to  overcome  man's  natural  indolence  is  MONEY. 
Labor  being  distasteful,  especially  to  barbarians,  the 
realized  presence  of  a  strong  stimulant  to  productive 
effort  is  indispensable  to  the  formation  of  habits  of  in- 
dustry. There  was  never  a  savage  so  stolid,  so  rude, 
or  so  lazy,  that  he  would  not  work  rather  than  starve  : 
if  he  famishes  through  his  own  fault,  he  does  so  because 
he  was  not  suffering  from  hunger  in  summer,  when  he 
should  have  done  the  work  ;  and,  now  that  winter  has 
brought  absolute  destitution,  no  effort  that  he  could 
make  would  avail  him.  "  Quashee,  up  to  his  ears  in 
pumpkin,"  as  Carlyle  characterizes  the  emancipated,  in- 
dolent West  India  negro,  is  but  dimly  conscious  of  other 
and  higher  wants  than  those  so  cheaply,  though  indiffer- 
ently, satisfied  by  his  abundant  food,  his  narrow,  flimsy 
hut,  his  ell  of  coarse  cotton  to  cover  his  loins,  and  his 
gourd-shell  calabash.  These  may  cost  him  an  hour's 
effort  per  day,  —  possibly,  a  day's  exertion  per  week,  — 
leaving  him  the  rest  of  his  time  for  sleep  or  play  ;  indo- 
lently changing  from  sunshine  to  shade  as  temperature 
shall  dictate.  Thus  I  saw  in  eastern  Kansas,  ten  years 
since,  a  score  of  half-civilized  and  (I  believe)  wholly 
christianized  Delawai-es,  sitting  in  company  under  the 


MONEY  —  THE  BALANCE  OF  TRADE.      55 

shade  of  the  stately  forest  which  belts  the  streams  of 
that  region  ;  men,  women,  and  children,  chatting  and 
laughing  the  day  out,  as  they  had  evidently  done  through 
many  previous  and  would  do  through  many  succeeding 
days,  though  it  was  the  height  of  the  planting  season, 
and  the  weather  and  soil  most  propitious.  They  played 
through  the  spring,  because  they  realized  no  adequate 
inducement  to  work.  Among  our  half-barbarized  pioneers 
of  the  border,  the  same  tendency  is  evinced,  somewhat 
modified  by  differences  of  race,  training,  and  condition. 
I  have  known  frontiersmen  of  pure  New  England  blood 
who,  having  moved  on  from  infancy  a  little  in  advance 
of  civilization,  would  earn  good  day-wages  by  faithful 
work  when  destitute  ;  but  who,  with  a  bag  of  meal,  a 
ham  or  saddle  of  venison  and  a  bottle  of  whiskey  on 
hand,  could  by  no  means  be  induced  to  work  till  these 
ran  short,  though  it  was  in  the  midst  of  harvest,  with 
labor  in  eager  demand,  and  with  wages  at  the  highest. 
"  What  is  the  reason,"  asked  a  friend  of  one  of  this 
class,  "  that  you,  who  always  do  a  good  day's  work  for 
another,  never  seem  to  accomplish  anything  when  work- 
ing for  yourself?  "  —  "I  hate  to  work  for  a  poor  pay- 
master," was  the  prompt  response.  To  impel  uncultured 
races  and  individuals  to  work  steadily  and  faithfully,  it 
is  essential  that  the  inducement  should  be  palpable  and 
the  recompense  imminent.  The  lowest  in  the  scale  of 
civilization  will  work  for  prompt  pay  when  pressed  by 
want ;  while  only  the  enlightened  and  truly  civilized 
will  drain  morasses  and  plant  forests  for  the  benefit 
mainly  of  generations  yet  unborn. 

Money  —  whose  origin  is  lost  in  the  deep  darkness  of 
pre-historic  ages  —  is  admirably  calculated  to  combat 
and  master  the  baleful  spell  of  indolence.  In  itself, 
subserving  hardly  a  want,  in  its  attributed,  artificial, 
representative  character,  it  inflames,  while  it  promises 


56  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

satisfaction  to,  every  material  desire.  He  who  might  re- 
fuse to  work  for  the  grain  of  the  farmer,  the  timber  of 
the  forester,  the  iron  of  the  smelter,  the  table  or  bureau 
of  the  cabinet-maker,  may  yet  labor  freely  for  the  money 
of  either ;  because  this  will  command  at  will  the  product 
of  either  or  all  of  these  and  of  thousands  beside.  In- 
dustry is  thus  extended,  quickened,  intensified,  rendered 
habitual,  by  the  adoption  and  use  of  Money.  And,  as 
the  labor  unemployed  on  the  instant  perishes  utterly 
and  forever,  and  even  involuntary  indolence  to-day  tends 
to  voluntary  and  chronic  idleness  in  the  future,  it  is 
manifest  that  the  comfort,  enlightenment  and  progress 
of  the  race  have  been  immensely  promoted  by  the  crea- 
tion and  use  of  Money. 

Gold  and  silver,  thence  termed  the  precious  metals, 
were  originally  recognized  as  money  for  obvious  reasons. 
Scarcely  subject  to  oxydation,  they  are  well-nigh  imper- 
ishable ;  procured  with  difficulty,  and  in  moderate  quan- 
tities, they  are  of  high  cost  in  proportion  to  their  bulk, 
rendering  large  values  cheaply  transferable  therein ; 
while  their  beauty  and  ductility  rendered  them  objects 
of  universal  desire,  even  before  their  extensive  use  in 
the  arts  and  in  the  economy  of  households  had  induced 
a  full  appreciation  of  their  intrinsic  worth.  They  owe 
their  employment  as  money  to  no  political  favor  or  pat- 
ronage, since  it  appears  to  have  preceded  the  foundation 
of  states  or  the  creation  of  governments,  other  than 
those  of  the  most  primitive  patriarchal  stamp.  Origi- 
nally valued  and  transferred  by  weight  (as  the  gold  ob- 
tained by  digging  and  washing  on  our  Pacific  slope  often 
is  to-day),  governments  long  ago  increased  their  utility 
by  dividing  them  into  pieces  of  definite  shape  and  weight, 
and  at  length  stamping  or  declaring  on  its  surface  the 
value  of  each  piece.  Modern  assay  has  fixed  more  exactly 
the  value  of  each  piece,  which  coinage  has  beautified,  while 


MONEY  —  THE  BALANCE  OF  TRADE.      57 

definitely  proclaiming  that  value.  Coins  have  come  at 
length  to  boast  a  historic  worth  ;  and  it  is  lamentable 
that,  through  Washington's  modesty  or  ill-judging  appre- 
hension, those  of  this  country  fail  to  bear,  like  those  of 
Europe,  the  likeness  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  under  whose 
Presidency  they  were  minted.  The  objection  that  to 
place  the  head  of  a  President  on  the  coins  struck  during 
his  term  would  savor  of  monarchy  seems  to  me  childish- 
ly fantastic.  Who  would  be  more  likely  to  idolize,  or  to 
abase  himself  at  the  feet  of,  a  Pierce?  Buchanan,  Lincoln, 
or  Johnson,  because  of  the  substitution  on  our  coins  of 
his  features  for  the  unmeaning  figure  which  (because  of  its 
cap)  is  now  understood  to  image  and  body  forth  Liberty  ? 
Paper  Money,  though  as  yet  imperfect  and  liable  to 
great  abuses,  was  and  is  a  signal  improvement  on  a  cur- 
rency exclusively  of  coin.  Aside  from  loss  by  wear  and 
by  shipwreck,  conflagration,  or  other  calamity,  coin 
fulfils  sluggishly  and  rudely,  in  a  civilized,  wealthy,  and 
commercial  community,  the  functions  of  money.  The 
payment  and  receipt  of  a  million  dollars  in  coin  (and  the 
transfers  of  money  in  this  city  alone  amount  to  hundreds 
of  millions  per  week)  require  considerable  time  and  the 
labor  of  several  hands,  especially  if  counterfeits  are  to 
be  watched  for  and  light  or  clipped  coins  rejected  ;  while 
the  same  million  dollars  in  paper  may  pass  through  many 
hands  and  pay  many  debts  in  the  course  of  a  winter 
morning  ;  each  transfer  being  effected  by  the  delivery 
and  receipt  of  a  bank  check  or  draft,  filled  up  in  a 
minute  and  passed  from  hand  to  hand  like  a  single  coin  : 
the  money  which  it  represents  lying  all  the  time  quiet  in 
the  vaults  of  some  bank,  which  it  requires  only  to  make 
good  in  due  time  the  balance  which  may  thereby  be 
scored  up  against  it  at  the  clearing-house.  If  silver  and 
gold  were  as  plenteous  as  pebbles,  it  would  still  be  found 
advantageous  to  create  and  use  paper  money,  because  of 
3* 


58  POLITICAL   ECONOMY. 

its  immensely  superior  efficiency  in  effecting  exchanges, 
squaring  accounts,  or  paying  debts.  By  means  of  checks 
or  drafts  drawn  against  sums  deposited  in  bank,  one  man 
can  receive  and  pay  more  money  in  a  day  than  one 
hundred  could  do  if  nothing  but  specie  was  recognized 
as  money,  and  if  all  payments  were  made  in  coin.  Paper 
money,  then,  is  a  labor-saving  device  of  immense  capacity 
and  efficiency,  as  clearly  so  as  a  modern  reaping  or  sew- 
ing machine  :  hence,  it  will  be  more  and  more  used  in- 
definitely, in  spite  of  its  frequent  and  glaring  abuses ; 
just  as  the  use  of  Steam  is  always  extending,  in  spite  of 
repeated  and  calamitous  explosions,  which  science  and 
inventive  genius  are  constantly  laboring  to  prevent  or 
diminish,  —  mankind  never  dreaming  of  discarding  the 
use  of  Steam  itself.  Counterfeits  and  kindred  frauds 
there  would  be,  even  if  nothing  but  coin  were  accepted 
as  Money  ;  but  they  would  be  far  less  common  and  less 
disastrous  than  now  :  yet  the  advantages  and  benefits  of 
Paper  Money  so  vastly  outweigh  its  abuses  and  evils  that 
it  can  nevermore  be  given  up  ;  and,  if  Governments  were 
unwise  enough  to  proscribe  it,  the  substitute  suggested 
by  necessity  or  devised  by  knavery  would  be  found  to 
embody  all  the  evils  of  a  legalized  Paper  Currency  with 
but  a  small  share  of  its  benefits. 

A  young  people,  a  newly  settled  or  recently  civilized 
country,  naturally  realizes  a  dearth  and  keenly  feels  the 
need  of  Money.  Its  wealth  is  necessarily  scanty  ;  while 
its  people  are  pressed  on  every  side  by  wants,  —  wants 
of  tools,  seed,  stock,  buildings,  &c.,  &c.  Almost  every 
one  wants  these  faster  and  in  larger  quantity  than  he  is 
able  to  pay  for  ;  a  great  many  would  like  to  obtain  them 
on  credit  and  pay  for  them  out  of  the  proceeds  of  future 
harvests  or  earnings.  Such  a  people  have  little  money 
at  the  outset,  and  very  little  produce  to  spare  for  years 
wherewith  to  procure  more  ;  their  labor  being  largely,  if 


MONEY  —  THE  BALANCE  OF  TRADE.      59 

not  mainly,  devoted  to  clearing  away  forests,  building, 
fencing,  &c.,  which  yield  no  instant,  salable,  exportable 
return.  The  more  rapid  the  growth  of  such  a  commu- 
nity, the  stronger  its  tendency  to  send  away  its  scanty 
stock  of  Money  in  exchange  for  metals,  wares,  fabrics,  of 
which  it  is  in  constant  and  pressing  need.  Hence,  the 
ability  of  its  banks,  if  banks  it  has,  to  maintain  specie 
payments,  is  often  sorely  tried,  and,  unless  they  be  man- 
aged with  signal  probity  and  circumspection,  will  some- 
times be  overborne.  If  Paper  Money  be  forbidden  by 
its  laws,  interest  will  rule  high,  usury  will  devour  the 
substance  of  its  masses,  and  the  sheriff  and  the  con- 
stable be  constantly  at  work  among  them,  selling  property 
at  a  heavy  sacrifice,  and  paying  debts  in  a  ruinous  fash- 
ion through  the  medium  of  judgments  and  executions. 
There  are  counties  in  this  State  whose  pioneers  wrestled 
forty  years  with  the  great  forests  which  formerly  envel- 
oped them,  suffering  meantime  serious  intellectual  as  well 
as  physical  privations,  which  might  have  been  triumphed 
over  in  half  the  time  had  they  been  fairly  supplied  with 
Money,  or  could  they  even  have  borrowed  it  on  ample 
security  and  at  reasonable  rates  of  interest. 

Now  it  does  not  suffice  to  say  that  what  they  needed 
was  not  merely  Money,  or  a  medium  of  exchange,  but 
Capital ;  for  they  suffered  from  a  want  of  Money  inde- 
pendently of  their  lack  of  Capital.  The  farmer,  the 
wheelwright,  the  manufacturer  of  wooden- ware,  &c.,  each 
having  his  scanty  available  capital  invested  in  the  imple- 
ments of  his  industry  or  the  products  of  his  own  labor, 
are  often  exposed  to  great  difficulty  and  delay  in  exchang- 
ing what  each  has  to  spare  for  what  he  most  needs,  be- 
cause of  the  dearth  of  Money.  And  it  is  hard  for  them, 
just  as,  having  gained  a  foothold,  they  are  beginning  to 
produce  somewhat  to  sell,  so  as  to  satisfy  their  most 
urgent  needs,  to  be  obliged  to  give  a  considerable  part  of 


60  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

it  for  counters  (for  such  is  the  use  of  Money  as  Money), 
therewith  to  effect  their  exchanges.  Hence,  the  utility 
and  the  popularity  in  such  communities  of  well-managed 
Banks  and  their  issues. 

I  hold  that  the  very  general  and  deeply  grounded  dep- 
recation of  an  adverse  Balance  of  Trade,  whereby  Money 
is  carried  out  of  the  country  and  its  return  precluded,  is 
sound  and  wholesome.  The  evil  contemned  may  not  be 
clearly  apprehended,  —7-  the  popular  instinct  may  not  find 
adequate  or  accurate  expression ;  yet  the  uncultured 
masses  are  on  this  head  wiser  than  the  philosophers  who 
have  graciously  condescended  to  illumine  their  darkness 
and  dispel  their  vulgar  prejudices.  It  is  not  well  for  a 
nation  to  buy  more,  year  after  year,  than  its  surplus  pro- 
ducts will  pay  for ;  it  is  not  well  to  import  luxuries  and 
fripperies  that  "  perish  in  the  using,"  and  export  specie, 
or  bonds,  or  any  kind  of  mortgages  on  posterity,  to  pay 
for  them.  The  nation  which  persists  in  so  doing  inevi- 
tably plays  the  part  of  a  prodigal,  and  invokes  the 
heaven-sent  penalties  of  culpable  folly.  The  disserta- 
tions of  the  Free  Trade  economists  in  contravention  of 
this  truth  assume  conditions  which  do  not  exist,  and 
pummel  men  of  straw  of  their  own  creation.  To  my 
mind,  they  miss  the  point  entirely. 

Bastiat1  says  :  — 

"  It  is  a  very  unimportant  circumstance  whether  there  be 
much  or  little  cash  in  the  world.  If  there  is  much,  much 
is  required ;  if  there  is  little,  little  is  wanted  for  each  trans- 
action. That  is  all." 

Mill2  says :  — 

"  The  uses  of  Money  are  in  no  respect  promoted  by  increas- 
ing the  quantity  which  exists  and  circulates  in  a  country ;  the 

1  Essay  entitled  "  What  is  Money?" 

2  Principles  of  Political  Economy,  Vol.  I.    Preliminary  Remarks. 
Fourth  Edition. 


MONEY  —  THE  BALANCE  OF  TRADE.      61 

service  which  it  performs  being  as  well  rendered  by  a  small  as 
by  a  large  aggregate  amount." 

Now  I  have  misread  history  if  the  steady  diminution 
of  the  aggregate  of  Money  circulating  in  the  Roman 
Empire,  through  the  constant,  insensible  draining  off  of 
Specie  to  India  and  China  in  payment  for  their  Silks, 
Spices,  and  other  luxuries  coveted  by  the  rich,  was  not 
among  the  most  potent  causes  of  the  decay  and  ultimate 
downfall  of  that  colossal  fabric.  And  I  am  sadly  in 
error  if  the  rapid  -and  vast  augmentation,  after  the  dis- 
covery of  America  by  Columbus,  of  the  volume  of  Gold 
and  Silver  circulating  throughout  Europe,  did  not  power- 
fully conspire  with  other  causes  to  improve  the  condition 
of  the  masses,  to  increase  their  comfort,  intelligence, 
energy,  power,  throughout  the  civilized  world. 

But  the  real  matter  in  debate  is  not  touched  by  the 
assumption  that  the  instant  annihilation  of  half  the 
money  in  the  world  would  be  no  calamity,  —  the  half  that 
remained  answering  every  purpose,  performing  every 
function,  that  the  whole  now  does.  True,  I  demur  to 
this  proposition  ;  but  I  dissent  still  more  strongly  from 
the  constant  assumption  of  the  Free  Trade  economists 
that  for  a  country  l£>  part  with  half  its  Gold  and  Silver 
in  payment  for  foreign  fabrics  can  work  that  country  no 
serious  harm.  They  say  :  "  The  bushel  of  grain  that 
formerly  cost  a  dollar  now  sells  for  half  a  dollar ;  but 
the  rural  day's  work  that  formerly  commanded  a  dollar 
now  costs  but  half  a  dollar  likewise ;  and  so  with  every- 
thing else  :  hence  (except  to  debtors)  the  change  wrought 
is  nominal  only  :  who  is  harmed  by  it  1 " 

I  answer,  Great  damage  accrues  to  all  the  industrious 
and  thrifty,  but  especially  to  the  workers  for  wages, 
when,  through  whatever  cause,  payment  in  money  is  gen- 
erally superseded  by  payment  in  commodities,  —  that  is,  in 
farm  produce,  store  orders,  &c.,  &c.  And  this  change  , 


62  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

almost  uniformly  follows  as  a  natural  result  a  rapid  and 
serious  diminution  of  the  volume  of  the  currency. 

My  distinct  personal  recollections  on  this  head  go 
back  to  the  period  of  industrial  derangement,  business 
collapse,  and  wide-spread  pecuniary  ruin,  which  closely 
followed  the  close,  in  1815,  of  our  Last  War  with  Great 
Britain.  Peace  found  this  country  dotted  with  furnaces 
and  manufactories  which  had  suddenly  grown  up,  dur- 
ing the  few  last  preceding  years,  under  the  precarious 
shelter  of  Embargo  and  War.  These  —  not  yet  fairly 
established,  in  a  country  whose  commerce  was  almost 
wholly  external  or  confined  to  the  seaboard,  —  steam 
navigation  being  yet  in  its  infancy,  and  canals  or  rail- 
roads unknown  among  us  —  found  themselves  suddenly 
exposed  to  a  determined  and  resistless  competition  from 
abroad.  Great  Britain,  under  the  segis  of  her  vast  naval 
armaments,  had  pushed  her  fabrics  into  almost  every 
corner  of  Asia,  Africa,  South  America,  and  the  isles  of 
the  sea,  meeting  no  competition  but  from  the  products 
of  the  rudest  and  most  inefficient  barbarian  rivals, 
ignorant  alike  of  spinning-jennies,  power-looms,  and 
steam.  Of  some  of  her  fabrics,  great  stocks  had  never- 
theless accumulated,  falling  behind  the  fashions,  and 
only  salable  at  prices  far  below  cost.  These  were  now 
thrown  xipon  our  markets  in  a  perfect  deluge,  being 
advertised  in  the  Boston  journals  at  "  pound  for  pound," 
—  that  is,  what  had  cost  $  4.44  (really  $  4.80)  to  manu- 
facture in  England,  being  offered  in  Boston,  duty  and  all 
charges  paid,  for  $3.33.  The  tariff  of  1816,  mainly 
framed  by  William  Lowndes,  was  intended  to  afford  some 
barrier  against  this  inundation,  but  proved  utterly  in- 
adequate, except  with  regard  to  coarse  cottons  and  a  few 
other  comparatively  rude  products.  Our  Manufactories 
went  down  like  grass  before  the  mower ;  our  Agriculture 
and  the  wages  of  Labor  speedily  followed.  In  New  Eng- 


MONEY  —  THE  BALANCE  OF  TRADE.      63 

land,  I  judge  that  fully  one-fourth  of  the  property  went 
through  the  Sheriff's  mill ;  and  the  prostration  was 
scarcely  less  general  in  any  part  of  the  country.  In 
Kentucky,  the  universal  and  intolerable  pressure  of  Debt 
incited  a  popular  but  illegal  overthrow  of  her  judiciary 
and  the  establishment  of  a  new  one  in  its  stead  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  staying  the  legal  collection  of  debts ; 
and  the  conflict  of  authority  and  jurisdiction  between 
the  "  Old  Court  "  and  the  "  New  Court  "  convulsed  the 
State  with  faction  and  anarchy  for  a  number  of  years. 
Here  in  New  York,  the  principal  merchants  united 
(1817)  in  a  memorial  to  Congress  for  legislation  to  save 
our  Commerce  as  well  as  our  Manufactures  from  utter 
ruin  by  increasing  the  Tariff  and  prohibiting  the  sale  by 
auction  of  imported  fabrics.  They  say  :  — 

"  Your  memorialists,  witnessing  the  sinking  condition  of  the 
commercial  interest  of  our  country,  have,  upon  investigating 
the  causes,  been  led  to  the  full  conviction  that  nothing  short 
of  the  protecting  arm  of  the  Government  can  rescue  it  from 
that  ruin  to  which  it  is  rapidly  approaching. 

"  That,  since  the  peace  in  Europe,  the  interdiction  of  British 
manufactures  on  the  European  continent,  conspiring  with 
other  causes  which  we  shall  notice,  has  not  only  occasioned 
our  markets  to  be  glutted  to  an  alarming  degree,  but  has  di- 
verted trade  from  its  best  and  accustomed  channels,  and  given 
it  a  direction  which,  if  pursued,  must  inevitably  ultimate  in 
the  ruin  of  the  mercantile  establishments  of  our  country. 

"  Sympathy  and  patriotism  combine  to  induce  us,  while  on 
this  subject,. to  speak  also  on  behalf  of  the  manufacturing 
interest  of  the  nation.  The  same  causes  which  are  operating 
the  destruction  of  our  commercial  prosperity  are  fast  pre- 
cipitating our  manufacturing  brethren  into  the  abyss  of  ruin. 
The  fate  of  the  one  is  necessarily  involved  in  that  of  the  other, 
and  the  destiny  of  the  nation  inseparably  interwoven  with 
the  welfare  of  both." 

My  father  migrated  from  New  Hampshire  to  Vermont 


64  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

in  January,  1821 ;  and  I  remained  a  resident  of  the  lat- 
ter State  for  the  next  decade,  or  from  my  tenth  to  my 
twentieth  year.  During  that  term,  though  hiring  and 
working  for  wages  were  common  in  Vermont  as  else- 
where, I  am  confident  that  not  one  dollar  in  twenty 
there  earned  as  wages  or  paid  for  farm  produce  was 
paid  in  money.  Grain,  orders  on  some  "store,"  &c., 
&c.,  were  the  universal  media  of  payment ;  very  little 
money  was  seen  or  circulated,  and  that  little  mainly  in 
connection  with  the  "lumbering  business,"  —  that  is, 
the  cutting,  sawing  into  boards,  and  drawing  or  rafting 
away,  of  the  scattering  pines  still  hidden  in  clefts  of  the 
mountains  or  in  morasses  hardly  more  accessible;  no 
one  expected  to  be  paid  in  money  for  work,  or  grain, 
or  meat,  unless  such  payment  was  expressly  stipulated ; 
and,  when  I  was  apprenticed  to  the  printing  trade  in 
1826,  it  was  prescribed  in  writing  that  I  was  to  be 
allowed  my  boai'd  and  forty  dollars  per  annum,  payable 
in  clothing  or  store-goods.  Such  was,  even  yet,  the 
usage,  though  money,  since  the  passage  of  the  Tariff 
of  1824,  was  not  so  lamentably  scarce  as  it  had  been. 
Barter  was  still  the  general  rule,  as  it  has  long  since 
been  for  years  in  the  payment  of  mechanics  in  very 
considerable  and  growing  cities  of  this  State. 

Now,  I  cannot  state  the  precise  extent  to  which  the 
country  had  been  drained  of  its  specie  by  the  excessive 
importations  of  1815-24;  but  I  know  that  our  export 
of  the  Precious  Metals  within  that  term  left  us  consider- 
ably more  than  half  the  amount  we  possessed  at  the 
close  of  the  War.  And,  before  a  quarter  of  our  specie 
had  gone,  —  when  it  was  simply  realized  that  it  was  go- 
ing, —  all  the  channels  of  circulation  seemed  to  have 
been  suddenly  frozen.  The  few  who  had  money  hoarded 
and  clung  to  it ;  the  many  who  needed  sought  it  anx- 
iously, but  in  vain.  Many  banks  failed  or  were  wound 


MONEY  —  THE  BALANCE  OF  TRADE.      65 

up ;  taxes,  though  low,  were  paid  with  difficulty ;  those 
who  sold  out  to  migrate  westward,  and  must  have  some 
money  for  travelling  expenses,  parted  with  lands,  cattle, 
implements,  crops,  furniture,  &c.,  at  very  low  prices. 
I  remember  seeing  a  bale  of  Hops  sold  at  auction  by  a 
sheriff  in  New  Hampshire  (1820)  at  one  cent  and  a  six- 
teenth per  pound,  —  less  than  $  25  per  ton.  I  judge  that 
more  New  England  families  were  reduced  from  comfort 
to  want  in  the  years  1817—20  than  in  the  next  half- 
century. 

This,  then,  I  hold  a  fundamental  error  of  the  econo- 
mists in  question  :  They  assume  that,  if  half  the  money 
in  a  country  leaves  it  in  payment  for  goods  imported,  the 
residue  will  perform  the  function  previously  devolved 
on  the  whole,  save  only  that  there  will  be  a  general 
reduction  of  prices  ;  I,  on  the  contrary,  insist,  and  appeal 
to  the  experience  of  mankind  to  sustain  me,  that  in  such 
case  the  remainder,  so  far  from  subserving  the  end  for- 
merly answered  by  the  larger  volume  of  currency,  will 
not  even  subserve  half  of  it,  for  it  will  all  but  cease  to  cir- 
culate at  all.  Money  may  continue  to  be,  in  some  vague 
sense,  a  measure  of  value  ;  but  it  will  cease  to  be  usually 
proffered  and  received  in  payments  for  Labor,  for  Produce, 
or  for  almost  any  form  of  commodity.  In  its  absence, 
the  people  will  quite  generally  be  driven  back  to  Barter, 
—  a  discouragement  of  industry,  and  a  long  stride  on 
the  downward  road  to  barbarism. 

Let  me  now  deal  directly  with  the  Balance  of  Trade. 
The  opponents  of  Protection  have  no  difficulty  in  knock- 
ing down  the  man  of  straw  they  have  set  up  for  the 
purpose,  and  demonstrating  that  a  nation  may  grow  rich 
ivhile  the  declared  or  Custom-House  value  of  its  Imports 
exceeds  that  of  its  Exports.  Bastiat  fairly  outdoes  himself 
in  the  flippancy  and  self-conceit  wherewith  he  shows  that, 


66  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

exporting  a  cargo  of  Ice  valued  at  $  1,000,  and  bringing 
home  in  exchange  therefor  a  cargo  of  Lemons,  worth 
$10,000,  is  not  a  losing  business, — as  though  we  did 
not  understand  that  quite  as  well  as  he  does.  It  is  not 
our  position  that  an  importation  of  Goods  valued  at 
$  100,000,000  per  annum,  balanced  by  an  exportation  of 
Produce  valued  at  $  80,000,000,  is  necessarily  ruinous. 
We  quite  understand  that  the  Produce  so  valued  may 
have  paid  for  the  Goods,  and  even  left  a  balance  on  the 
right  side  of  the  account.  The  presumption  is  otherwise  ; 
still,  the  fact  may  be  thus.  We  do  not  determine  that 
the  balance  is  against  us  merely  because  our  Imports  are 
officially  valued  higher  than  our  Exports. 

But  when  a  nation  is,  year  after  year,  drawn  upon  for 
coin  to  pay  balances  standing  against  it  in  the  foreign 
marts  whither  its  Produce  is  sent,  whence  its  Fabrics  and 
Wares  are  imported,  —  when  its  Banks,  because  of  such 
vdrafts,  find  it  difficult,  and  sometimes  impossible,  to 
maintain  Specie  Payments,  —  when  the  obligations  of  its 
Government,  of  its  States,  provinces,  counties,  or  cities, 
and  of  its  industrial  or  moneyed  corporations,  are  con- 
stantly tending  abroad  for  sale,  even  at  ruinous  rates, 
with  no  counter-current  of  securities  in  the  opposite  di- 
rection, — when  such  a  country  finds  its  banks  founded 
in  part  on  foreign  capital,  its  mines  sold  out  to  foreign 
creditors,  its  railroads  in  good  measure  owned  and  man- 
aged, if  not  actually  constructed,  by  them,  and  everything 
tending  more  and  more  to  make  its  people  toil  and  sweat 
through  future  ages  to  pay  barely  the  interest  and  divi- 
dends which  must  necessarily  be  due  from  them  to 
foreigners,  then  I  submit  that  the  course  on  which  that 
country  has  entered  is  perilous,  and  portends  evil  at 
hand.  I  do  not  insist  that  a  nation  should  prize  gold 
and  silver  above  all  other  wealth,  seeking  to  import  and 
amass  them  ;  I  do  not  say  that  a  moderate  efflux  of  the 


MONEY  —  THE  BALANCE  OF  TRADE.      67 

Precious  Metals  from  a  country  which  bounteously  pro- 
duces them  is  to  be  deprecated  ;  I  do  not  say  that  a 
nation  should  never  owe  a  stiver  abroad  nor  import  a 
fraction  more  than  its  exports  in  a  given  year  :  but  I  do 
firmly  hold  that  a  nation,  like  an  individual,  or  a  family, 
should  generally  pay  as  it  goes,  —  should  buy  no  more 
than  it  can  pay  for,  —  should  dread  running  into  debt 
and  avoid  it  when  jt  may  ;  and  that  the  exportation  of 
its  coin  or  bullion  beyond  the  amount  of  its  annual  pro- 
duct is  improvident,  thriftless,  and  tempts  as  weU  as  tends 
to  grave  financial  disasters.  I  hold  running  in  debt  to 
foreign  nations  for  stuffs,  luxxiries,  and  gewgaws,  that  we 
might  well  do  without,  is  prodigality,  and  is  defrauding 
our  children  of  their  rightful  heritage.  In  time  of  peace 
and  fair  harvests,  we  need  not  run  in  debt  to  foreigners, 
and  we  should  not.  Let  us  cut  our  coat  according  to  our 
cloth,  —  live  within  our  means,  —  earn  more  or  spend 
less,  —  and  try  to  bring  our  current  expenses  within  our 
accruing  income,  so  that  we  may  soon  begin  paying  off 
the  enormous  debt  —  not  this  day  a  dime  less  than  One 
Billion  of  Dollars  —  which  we  have  unwisely  incurred, 
and  which  our  Civil  War  but  partially  caused  and  can 
but  partially  excuse.  Such  is  the  Protectionist  view  of 
the  Balance  of  Trade.  Read  Bastiat  and  his  servile  fol- 
lowers, and  see  if  they  clearly  comprehend  or  honestly 
meet  it ! 


68  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

V. 

PAPER  MONEY  —  INTEREST  —  USURY. 

IF  one  were  to  walk  up  any  of  our  thronged  streets, 
and  ask  every  stranger  he  met,  "  Would  you  like  to  bor- 
row ten  thousand  dollars  ]  "  it  is  probable  that,  if  the  in- 
quiry were  presumed  to  be  made  in  good  faith,  ninety  to 
ninety-five  of  each  hundred  would  eagerly  answer  "  Yes." 
Ours  are  a  sanguine  and  an  enterprising  people,  most  of 
whom  believe  that  they  need  but  Capital  to  enable  them 
to  achieve  great  results.  And  yet  it  is  not  probable  that 
one  fourth  of  those  who  so  borrowed  $  10,000  would  ever 
be  able  to  repay  it.  The  capacity  profitably  and  safely 
to  employ  and  invest  so  large  a  sum  is  even  rarer  than 
its  possession.  Few  learn  how  to  use  means  much  faster 
than  they,  by  industry  and  management,  acquire  and 
retain  them ;  and  those  most  eager  to  borrow  are  gener- 
ally the  slowest  to  pay.  Of  young  men  who  have  as  yet 
earned  little  or  nothing,  I  doubt  that  even  so  many  as 
one  in  ten  would  be  benefited  by  a  considerable  loan,  at 
least  until  they  had  laboriously  earned  and  honestly  saved 
a  like  amount. 

Still,  the  desire  to  borrow,  so  prevalent  with  us,  rests 
on  a  perfectly  intelligible  and  unobjectionable  basis.  An 
extraordinary  proportion  of  our  young  men  aspire  to 
position,  consideration,  fortune,  and  expect  to  achieve 
these  by  Trade,  or  in  some  department  of  Productive 
Industry.  Born  poor,  they  seek  independence  through 
the  use  of  Credit.  Others  have  borrowed,  adventured, 
and  succeeded :  these  are  conspicuous,  and  seen  of  all 
men ;  while  the  far  greater  number  who  have  failed  con- 


PAPER  MONEY  —  INTEREST  —  USURY.  £9 

clusively,  and  died  or  sunk  into  obscurity,  are  unnoted 
and  soon  forgotten.  If  there  were  ten  tinges  as  much  to 
lend,  there  would  be  no  lack  of  borrowers,  provided  the 
security  proffered  were  acceptable. 

To  a  community  thus  suffused  with  the  spirit  of  aspi- 
ration, of  adventure,  of  industrial  and  commercial  enter- 
prise, the  use  of  Paper  Money  is  as  natural  as  breathing. 
I  do  not  believe  its  suppression  a  possibility,  even.  If 
Government  should  proscribe  it,  it  would  set  Government 
at  defiance  ;  and  we  should  only  have  a  worse  Paper  Cur- 
rency in  lieu  of  the  present.  Drive  out  Nature  with  a 
pitchfork,  says  the  proverb,  and  she  will  return  in  spite 
of  you  and  your  pitchfork.  So  it  would  be  with  Paper 
Currency. 

In  California  and  her  adjuncts,  Gold  and  Silver  being 
staple  products,  it  was  early  resolved  that  they  alone 
should  be  received  and  circulated  as  money ;  and  that 
resolve  has  been  pretty  generally  lived  up  to.  I  cannot 
learn  that  any  of  the  expected  benefits  have  been  real- 
ized. The  ruling  rate  of  interest  at  San  Francisco  was 
long  three  per  cent,  per  month  on  ordinary  and  at  least 
two  on  the  best  securities  ;  it  has  at  length  fallen  to 
twelve  per  cent,  per  annum.  I  do  not  understand  that 
over-trading  has  been  less  common,  credit  less  abused,  or 
failures  less  frequent  and  disastrous,  there  than  on  the 
Atlantic  slope ;  nor  do  I  believe  that  the  spirit  of  rash, 
presumptuous  adventure  has  been  at  all  checked  by  Hard 
Money  and  Legalized  Usury. 

I  object  to  legalizing  unlimited  Usury  that  it  tends  to 
put  the  business  of  the  country,  with  the  use  of  its 
floating  capital,  largely  into  the  hands  of  the  more  san- 
guine, headlong  members  of  the  community,  —  of  those 
who  will  bid  highest  for  loans,  rather  than  those  who  will 
use  means  most  discreetly  and  safely.  I  am  willing  to 
see  our  usury  laws  so  modified  that  any  one  may  lend 


70  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

money  at  exorbitant  rates,  provided  he  will  make  his 
own  collections  and  not  trouble  the  State  in  the  premises. 
Let  him,  incurring  no  penalty,  ask  three  per  cent,  per 
day,  if  he  will,  and  let  those  who  choose  pay  it ;  but  I 
hold  it  contrary  to  good  policy  that  such  rapacity  should 
be  upheld  by  law.  Let  the  legal  maximum  of  interest 
be  fixed  and  notorious ;  let  those  who  see  fit  exceed  it 
at  their  own  peril ;  let  their  usurious  obligations  be  debts 
of  honor,  and  let  those  pay  them  who  see  fit.  The  State 
goes  far  enough  when  it  undertakes  the  collection  of 
debts  contracted  in  accordance  with  its  convictions  of 
sound,  beneficent  policy ;  as  to  all  other  contracts,  let 
them  stand  or  fall  as  they  would  do  if  the  State  did  not 
exist. 

But  I  differ  irreconcilably  with  those  who  argue  that 
Interest  is  unjust,  —  that  a  creditor  should  receive  the 
amount  he  loaned,  and  no  more.  If  an  apple-tree  of 
four  years'  growth  is  naturally  more  valuable  than  one 
of  one  or  two  years',  then  it  seems  clear  that  he  who 
loaned  me  $  100,  still  unpaid,  with  which  I  bought  a 
hundred  apple-trees  from  a  nursery  three  years  ago,  has 
now  a  larger  claim  upon  me  than  if  he  had  loaned  me  the 
like  sum  wherewith  to  purchase  similar  trees  one  year 
ago.  So  the  thrifty  farmer  who  has  seed-wheat  at  sow- 
ing-time, while  his  poorer  neighbors  have  none,  being 
solicited  by  them  to  lend  it  on  promise  of  repayment  out 
of  the  next  crop,  might  fairly  say,  "  If  you  are  to  pay 
me  barely  the  quantity  lent,  I  prefer  to  keep  my  wheat 
and  be  sure  of  it,  rather  than  lend  it  at  the  risk  of  losing 
If  to  be  idle  half  this  year  involves  no  penalty 
beyond  that  of  making  up  the  lost  hours  in  some  future 
year,  indolence  would  vanquish  thrift  far  oftener  than  it 
now  does.  Man's  energies  are  spurred  to  activity  by  the 
knowledge  that  all  savings  are  fruitful,  —  that  the  $  100 
earned  and  saved  at  one-and-twenty  will  have  become 


PAPER   MONEY  —  INTEREST  —  USURY.  71 

$  1,000,  if  carefully  invested,  before  its  owner  is  seventy. 
To  make  men  industrious,  provident,  saving,  seems  to 
me  one  chief  end  of  a  true,  beneficent  public  policy ;  and 
this  would  be  contravened  by  denying  the  rightfulness 
of  Interest.  If  he  who  lends  $  10,000  for  a  year  is  enti- 
tled barely  to  the  return  of  his  principal,  then  he  who 
lets  a  house  or  farm  worth  $  10,000  is  entitled  to  its  res- 
toration intact  at  the  year's  end  and  no  more ;  and  all 
rights  of  property  are  limited  to  its  personal  use  by  the 
owner.  Evidently,  apart  from  the  consideration  of  jus- 
tice, mankind  cannot  afford  to  discourage  saving,  by 
denying  the  rightfulness  of  Interest. 

Banks  were  originally  places  where  money  could  be 
deposited  for  safe-keeping,  with  reasonable  assurance 
that  it  would  be  returned  on  demand ;  and  such  they 
long  remained.  After  a  time,  the  certificates  or  receipts 
given  for  sums  so  deposited  passed  in  trade  for  the  sums 
they  severally  represented  or  specified,  being  simply 
orders  on  the  bank  for  the  transfer  or  delivery  of  so 
much  money.  At  length,  it  was  discovered  that,  so 
signal  was  the  convenience  and  general  acceptability  of 
these  receipts  or  tokens,  they  might  safely  be  issued  in 
excess  of  the  coin  at  any  time  on  deposit,  being  balanced 
and  secured  by  the  notes  on  interest  of  borrowers,  who 
could  be  relied  on  to  pay  when  required.  Such  in  effect 
is  modern  Banking.  There  is  no  deception  in  the  case  : 
The  holder  of  the  note  is  well  aware  that,  if  every  note 
were  presented  at  once,  they  could  not  be  promptly  met ; 
but  the  bank's  creditors  are  often  among  its  borrowers 
and  debtors,  as  well  as  its  depositors  and  note-holders, 
and  naturally  solicitous  to  maintain  its  solvency  and 
credit ;  hence,  a  bank  has  very  rarely  failed  except  from 
mismanagement  and  dishonesty  on  the  part  of  its  offi- 
cers, unless  caught  in  the  whirlwind  of  some  great  com- 
mercial revulsion.  And,  though  bad  Banks  have  inflicted 


72  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

much  injury,  and  even  ruin,  I  cannot  doubt  that  Banking 
has,  on  the  whole,  been  a  benefit  to  our  country,  and 
that  Paper  Money  has,  in  the  large  view,  done  us  vastly 
more  good  than  harm. 

A  currency  of  Paper  exclusively  —  that  is,  of  promises , 
that  are  not  redeemed  on  demand  —  is  a  far  more 
questionable  blessing.  Our  Revolutionary  War  was 
mainly  fought  upon  Continental  Money,  —  the  promises 
of  States  to  pay  which  were  never  redeemed,  and  were 
at  length,  having  become  worthless,  by  general  consent, 
repudiated.  In  our  Last  War  with  Great  Britain,  all  the 
banks  but  those  of  New  England  suspended  Specie 
Payment ;  yet  the  Government,  under  the  pressure  of 
necessity,  continued  to  receive  their  notes  for  Customs, 
Loans,  and  Internal  Taxes,  though  their  value  was  un- 
equal and  fluctuating.  The  Government,  on  the  motion 
of  Daniel  Webster,  returned  to  Specie  Payment  about 
two  years  after  the  War  closed,  when  a  part  of  the  banks 
failed  utterly  and  went  into  liquidation ;  the  rest  re- 
sumed, and  went  on  as  before  the  War.  There  were 
several  other  partial  suspensions  by  the  banks  there- 
after, and  one,  very  general,  in  1837,  under  the  pressure 
of  a  great  commercial  revulsion ;  but  the  Government 
thenceforth  collected  its  revenues  in  coin,  and,  despite 
one  or  two  later  partial  suspensions,  went  forward  on 
a  specie  basis,  until  December,  1861,  when  the  banks 
broke  down  under  the  enormous  requisitions  made  upon 
them  for  loans  to  uphold  the  prosecution  of  the  War  for 
the  Union.  A  moderate  issue  of  Treasury  Notes  had 
already  been  made ;  these,  being  receivable  for  all  dues 
to  the  Government,  had  been  kept  at  or  very  near  par ; 
but  now  a  bolder  and  more  comprehensive  employment 
of  the  National  Credit  had  become  imperative.  This  was 
ultimately  perfected  in  the  Legal  Tender  act,1  which  pro- 

1  Approved  February  25,  1862. 


PAPER   MONEY  —  INTEREST  —  USURY.  73 

vided  at  once  for  a  loan  of  $  500,000,000  and  an  issue 
of  Treasury  Notes  of  the  denominations  of  $  1,  $  2,  $5, 
$  10,  &c.f  to  the  extent  of  $  150,000,000;  each  note  to 
be  a  Legal  Tender  in  all  payments  to  individuals  and  to 
the  Government,  except  that  payments  into  the  Treasury 
for  Customs  (Duties  on  Imports)  and  payments  out  of  it 
for  interest  on  the  Public  Debt  should  be  made  in  coin. 
These  Treasury  Notes  were  not  only  to  be  received  at 
par  in  payment  of  Internal  Taxes  and  of  subscriptions  to 
loans  to  the  United  States,  but  they  were  fundable  at 
the  option  of  holders  in  the  "  Five-Twenty  "  loan  created 
by  the  same  act ;  so  that  a  holder  of  "  Greenbacks " 
(Legal  Tender  Treasury  Notes),  which  drew  no  interest, 
might  at  any  time  convert  them  into  bonds  drawing  six 
per  cent,  interest  in  coin,  and  redeemable  after  five  and 
within  twenty  years  from  the  date  of  issue.  Beyond 
this,  provision  was  stipulated  for  "  the  purchase  or  pay- 
ment "  of  at  least  one  per  centum  annually  of  the  entire 
Debt  of  the  United  States  out  of  the  residue  of  the 
receipts  from  customs  after  paying  the  interest  as  afore- 
said. 

This  measure  was  born  of  the  agonies  and  perils  of  a 
great  Civil  War ;  it  was  (as  passed)  the  work  of  many 
hands,  and  was  bandied  back  and  forth  between  the  two 
Houses  and  their  conferees,  so  that  it  differed  widely  in 
the  event  from  any  original  di'aft  or  preconception  ;  yet 
I  doubt  that  so  wise  and  salutary  a  scheme  of  War 
Finance  had  ever  been  devised  by  any  Cabinet  or  Minis- 
ter, or  adopted  by  any  European  Parliament.  It  was 
guarded  at  every  point,  and,  though  necessarily  looking 
to  a  wide  departure  from  the  Specie  standard,  provided 
thoroughly  for  an  early  return  thereto.  It  was  deemed 
necessary,  a  year  or  two  afterward,  to  eliminate  the  im- 
portant clause  that  provided  for  unlimited  funding  of 
the  Treasury  Notes  at  the  pleasure  of  the  holders ;  but 

4 


74  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

for  which  we  should  have  returned  perforce  to  Specie 
Payments  long  ago.  Simply  allowing  holders  of  "  Green- 
backs "  to  convert  them  at  par  into  "  Five-Twenties " 
would  have  brought  them  up  to  par,  or  very  near  it, 
soon  after  the  War  closed.  And  now,  if  the  Greenbacks 
were  fundable,  as  the  act  aforesaid  provided  that  they 
should  be,  they  would  rapidly  flow  into  bonds,  and  the 
banks,  thus  deprived  of  "  Legal  Tender,"  would  be  obliged 
to  redeem  in  coin  or  fail,  insuring  general  resump- 
tion. 

If  we  are  ever  to  have  a  purely  Paper  Currency,  — 
stable,  yet  elastic ;  irredeemable  in  coin,  yet  of  nearly 
uniform  value,  —  it  must  inevitably  be  built  on  the 
broad  foundations  of  the  act  of  1862.  It  should  be  dis- 
tinctly, avowedly,  based  on  the  Public  Debt,  and  each 
note  should  specify  (as  the  original  Greenbacks  did) 
"  This  note  is  payable  [not  in  coin,  but]  in  bonds  of  the 
Consolidated  Debt  of  the  United  States,"  each  hav- 
ing forty  [twenty,  thirty,  fifty,  as  may  be  stipulated] 
years  to  run,  untaxable,  and  drawing  an  interest  of  four 
per  cent  per  annum,  payable  qxiarter-yearly.  These 
bonds  [Consols]  should  in  turn  be  exchangeable  at  the 
Treasury  for  Greenbacks  at  par ;  «o  that,  when  Green- 
backs were  abundant,  they  would  be  converted  into 
Bonds  or  Consols ;  when  they  became  scarce,  Bonds 
would  be  presented  at  the  Treasury,  and  Greenbacks 
issued  in  exchange  for  them.  I  am  not  sanguine  that 
any  purely  Paper  Currency  —  that  is,  any  Currency  of 
Paper  not  redeemable  in  coin  on  demand  —  will  bo 
found  in  practice  to  subserve  the  ends  of  a  true  Circu- 
lating Medium  and  Measure  of  Value  ;  but,  if  any  will 
answer,  this  seems  most  likely  to  do  so. 

The  idea  of  creating  and  maintaining  a  currency  of 
Paper  or  Credit  purely  did  not  originate  in  the  exigencies 
and  necessities  of  War.  More  than  twenty  years  ago, 


PAPER   MOXEY  —  INTEREST  —  USURY.  75 

Mr.  Edward  Kellogg,  a  retired  merchant  of  our  City, 
elaborated  the  plan  of  such  a  Currency,  and  expounded 
it  in  a  volume,1  Avhich  was  the  sequel  to  and  complement 
of  one  previously  put  forth  by  him,  entitled  "Currency ; 
the  Evil  and  the  Remedy."  In  each  of  these  works,  the 
author  contends  that  our  monetary  system  is  mistaken 
and  oppressive,  —  that  it  discourages  enterprise,  and  op- 
presses poverty,  while  it  aggrandizes  wealth,  enabling 
the  few  to  enrich  themselves  inordinately  at  the  expense 
of  the  many.  In  Mr.  Kellogg's  view,  the  monopoly  of 
Money  by  the  wealthy  few  is  even  a  graver  fault  than 
the  monopoly  of  Land  ;  the  greatest  evil  of  which  the  poor 
are  victims  being  the  high  rate  of  interest  and  the  diffi- 
culty of  obtaining  money  on  loan.  Mr.  Kellogg  maintains 
that  two  per  cent,  is  a  high  rate  of  interest,  and  that 
every  one  who  can  give  good  real-estate  security  ought 
to  be  enabled  to  borrow  thereon  to  the  extent  of  half  its 
appraised  value,  and  that  the  Government  should  be 
ready  and  willing  to  loan  to  that  extent.  To  this  end 
he  would  establish  a  great  National  Bank  (called  by  him 
a  "  National  Safety  Fund  "),  which  should  lend  to  every 
citizen  requiring  it,  on  a  mortgage  of  real  estate  worth 
twice  the  amount,  its  Legal  Tender  paper,  stipulating  as 
follows  :  — 

No.  [689.]  MONEY.  Dated  [June  5,  1869.] 

8  5OO.]  THE  UNITED  STATES  [9  5OO. 

will  pay  to  the  bearer  FIVE  HUNDRED  DOLLARS  in  a  Safety  Fund 
note  on  demand,  at  the  Safety  Fund  Office  in  the  City  of  [Arew 
York] 

The  above  note,  designed  to  serve  as  money,  is  not  on 
interest ;  but  the  Safety  Fund  note,  in  which  it  is  funda- 
ble  at  the  pleasure  of  the  holder,  reads  thus  :  — 

1  Labor  and  other  Capital:  The  Rights  of  each  secured  and  the 
•  Wrongs  of  both  eradicated.  By  Edward  Kellogg. 


76  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

No.  [446.]          SAFETY  FUND  NOTE.         Dated  [Sept.  1,  1870.] 

8  5OO.]  One  year  from  the  [$  5OO. 

1st  day  of.  May  next,  or  at  any  time  thereafter,  THE  UNITED 
STATES  will  pay  to  A.  R,  or  order,  in  the  City  of  [New  York] 
FIVE  HUNDRED  DOLLARS;  and,  until  such  payment  is  made, 
will  pay  interest  thereon,  on  the  1st  day  of  May  in  each  year, 
at  the  rate  of  one  per  cent,  per  annum. 

The  uotes  secured  by  mortgage  given  to  the  Gov- 
ernment by  borrowers  as  above,  will  bear  an  interest  of 
one  cent  and  one  mill  per  annum,  on  each  dollar  borrowed, 
and  will  be  payable  only  at  the  pleasure  of  the  maker 
so  long  as  the  interest  shall  be  duly  met.  The  borrower 
who  should  object  to  this  rate,  or  to  giving  the  security 
required,  must  be  hard  to  please. 

I  must  demur  to  several  of  Mr.  Kellogg's  fundamental 
assumptions,  viz.  :  "  The  powers  of  Money,  which  alone 
render  it  useful,  are  created  by  legislation ;  therefore, 
Money  can  possess  none  but  legal  value."  I  hold  that 
Money  had  been  created,  or  recognized  by  common  con- 
sent, before  governments  meddled  with  it ;  that  their 
interposition  in  the  premises  was  but  the  recognition  or 
declaration  of  a  preexisting  fact.  I  do  not  deny  that 
governments  can  create,  have  created  Money,  nor  that 
there  may  be  and  is  Money  whose  value  is  representative 
or  artificial;  I  do  not  deny  that  this  representative 
Money  may  efficiently,  beneficently,  subserve  the  ends 
of  that  Money  which  has  original,  intrinsic  value ;  but  I 
decline  to  confound  the  sign  with  the  thing  signified, 
and  to  suppose  that  Money  may  be  created  by  the  mere 
fiat  of  any  human  power.  If  such  a  monetary  system 
as  is  above  outlined  were  adopted,  the  value  of  the  cur- 
rency thereby  provided  would  be  influenced  by  many 
considerations,  whereof  its  being  received  in  payments 
to  and  made  a  legal  tender  by  the  Government  would  be 
two;  but  others  would  prove  at  least  equally  potent. 


PAPER   MONEY  —  INTEREST  —  USURY.  77 

The  very  rate  of  interest  stipulated,  being  far  below 
what  I  conceive  the  intrinsic  worth  or  annual  rental  of 
Capital,  would  insure  a  superabundance  of  currency, 
quickly  followed  by  an  enormous  inflation  of  prices, 
whereby  Speculation  would  be  very  likely  to  profit  at  the 
expense  of  honest  Industry.  During  the  process  of  wip- 
ing out  with  wheat  at  ten  or  fifteen  dollars  per  bushel 
debts  contracted  when  it  was  worth  but  one  or  two  dol- 
lars per  bushel,  we  should  have  brisk  times  and  an  easy 
money  market ;  yet  a  large  portion  of  the  indebted  class 
would  be  so  intent  on  increasing  their  own  enjoyments, 
or  amassing  wealth  by  speculation,  that  they  would 
probably  be  as  deeply  in  debt  at  the  close  as  at  the  be- 
ginning. The  necessity  of  paying  other  nations  for  their 
products  purchased  by  us  would  still  exist ;  our  new 
money  would  of  course  be  unacceptable  to  them  ;  our 
gold  and  silver  would  soon  have  taken  wings  and  flown 
over  sea  ;  and  now  the  disagreeable  necessity  of  paying 
—  actually  paying  —  for  our  Imports,  will  have  returaed 
in  all  its  original  force.  If  we  buy  Five  Hundred  Mil- 
lions' worth  (old  style)  of  Foreign  Products  per  annum, 
we  must  henceforth  pay  therefor  what  the  outside  world 
will  receive  as  worth  that  amount ;  and  this  would 
embarrass  us  then  as  it  does  now.  Mr.  Kellogg  holds 
that  those  who  sold  us  Foreign  Wares  and  Fabrics  must 
accept  and  export  our  Produce  in  payment  therefor,  hav- 
ing no  alternative ;  and  such  might  be  the  case  at  first ; 
but  they  would  stop  selling  iis  when  they  could  no  longer 
sell  at  a  profit,  and  constrain  us  to  pay  prices  in  our  cur- 
rency for  their  goods  at  which  they  could  afford  to  pur- 
chase and  export  our  staples.  Admit  that  this  scheme 
would  lack  some  of  the  vices  and  impediments  created 
by  the  iron  money  of  Sparta,  it  still  seems  to  me  that 
Mr.  Kellogg's  currency,  though  at  the  outset  it  should 
make  money  ever  so  abundant  and  payments  remarkably 


78  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

easy,  would  end  in  throwing  us  back  upon  Barter,  through 
the  instrumentality  of  a  legalized  currency  which  must 
gradually  lose  the  character,  by  failing  to  subserve  some 
of  the  most  essential  ends,  of  Money. 

I  have  given  some  consideration  to  this  scheme,  be- 
cause the  conception  of  a  Currency  of  Paper  purely  has 
fascinated  many  acute  minds,  and  has  ardent  apostles 
among  European  Radicals,  intent  on  emancipating  Labor 
from  what  they  denounce  as  the  tyranny  of  Capital.  I 
do  not  say  that  the  plan  is  impracticable ;  I  believe  in 
Paper  Money,  and  would  gladly  see  its  uses  and  benefits 
extended ;  I  readily  admit  that  public  good  as  well  as 
evil  has  resulted  even  from  our  Irredeemable  Paper  Cur- 
rency of  the  last  seven  years,  and  that  an  abundance  of 
Money  is  a  blessing,  though  (like  other  blessings)  it  may 
be  bought  too  dearly.  The  subject  of  Currency  is  one  by 
no  means  exhausted ;  the  science  of  Money  is  still  im- 
perfectly known ;  and  the  fact  that  Capital  (not  merely 
tokens  which  represent  what  does  not  exist)  is  really  and 
uniformly  cheaper  in  Western  Europe  than  in  this  coun- 
try, is  one  of  the  impediments  against  which  our  National 
Industry,  and  especially  our  Manufacturing  Industry, 
has  struggled,  and  is  doomed  still  to  contend.  Land  is 
so  cheap  with  us  that  our  farmers  have  an  immense  ad- 
vantage over  their  European  rivals  in  the  cost  of  this 
important  element  of  production  ;  but  Labor  is  relatively 
high  with  us ;  nearly  every  element  of  Manufacture  is 
dearer  here  than  in  Europe ;  and  herein  we  encounter 
one  formidable  impediment  to  the  expansion  and  pros- 
perity of  American  Manufactures.  Whoever  needs  more 
Capital  than  he  possesses,  and  is  compelled  to  borrow, 
must  pay  a  third  to  a  half  more  annually  for  the  use  of 
a  certain  sum  than  his  British,  French,  German,  or  Bel- 
gian rival ;  and  this  interposes  a  grave  obstacle  to  his 
thrift  and  success. 


PAPER   MONEY  —  INTEREST  —  USURY.  79 

"  But  why  cannot  we  have  cheap  capital  by  adopting 
some  such  plan  as  Mr.  Kellogg's  1 " 

I  answer,  Because  the  use  of  capital  is  worth,  more 
here  than  any  such  plan  assumes  or  supposes  it  to  be ; 
while  we  might  double  or  treble  the  volume  of  our  Cur- 
rency, without  increasing  materially  the  real  aggregate 
of  our  wealth.  We  might  each  be  worth  more  dollars 
than  now,  though  our  real  wealth  had  not  increased  one 
dime ;  just  as  he  who  has  now  an  income  of  $  5,000  a 
year  (in  greenbacks)  is  no  better  off  than  he  formerly 
was  when  his  income  was  called  $3,000  a  year  (coin). 

To  illustrate  the  nature  of  Interest,  I  will  suppose  that 
a  hundred  farmers  of  nearly  equal  means  inhabit  some 
remote,  secluded  vale  among  the  mountains,  having  little 
intercourse  with  the  outside  world.  Their  settlement 
being  comparatively  new  and  in  a  mild  climate,  they 
have  thus  far  done  without  barns ;  but,  now  that  their 
wealth  has  increased,  and  more  pressing  wants  have  been 
satisfied,  they  generally  conclude  that  the  time  has  come 
wherein  to  provide  shelter  for  their  stock  and  their  fod- 
der. Yet  all  cannot  erect  suitable  barns  at  once  :  were 
they  to  do  so,  their  crops  must  be  neglected  and  their 
food  run  short :  so  they  confer  and  agree  that  one-fourth 
shall  build  this  year,  another  fourth  next,  and  so  on  till 
all  have  barns,  —  such  being  the  rate  at  which  they 
judge  themselves  able  to  supply  this  common  want.  B., 
C.,  D.,  are  to  refrain  from  building  this  year,  lending 
part  of  their  labor  or  their  crops  to  A.,  who  builds  now, 
and  taking  his  notes  for  their  value ;  A.,  C.,  and  D.,  do- 
ing the  like  by  B.  next  year ;  and  so  on.  Now,  Interest, 
in  my  view,  is  the  consideration  for  which  B.,  C.,  D., 
consent  to  forego  building  this  year  and  help  A.  instead. 
Each  of  the  four  would  gladly  have  his  barn  built  this 
year ;  but  A.  is  the  most  urgent,  and  bids  most  for  the 
first  use  of  their  conjoint  surplus,  and  so  obtains  it. 
(Thus  many  of  our  Cooperative  Building  Societies,  hav- 


80  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

ing,  by  small  weekly  or  monthly  payments  from  each 
member,  accumulated  enough  to  build  one  dwelling,  put 
the  amount  up  at  auction,  and  that  member  who  bids 
the  highest  premium  has  the  first  house.)  Thus  is  estab- 
lished what  I  consider  a  natural  rate  of  interest ;  and  it 
is  one  far  above  Mr.  Kellogg's  standard.  Were  his  sys- 
tem adopted,  too  many  would  seek  to  borrow  the  means 
and  hire  the  labor  requisite  for  building,  draining,  fen- 
cing, and  otherwise  improving,  and  too  few  would  be 
left  to  cultivate  the  earth  or  otherwise  produce  what  is 
needed  to  supply  our  most  urgent  wants  ;  we  should 
have  new  or  enlarged  dwellings,  with  more  and  better 
furniture,  but  a  scanty  supply  of  bread.  I  deem  this  a 
natural  result  of  any  scheme  whereby  Interest  is  de- 
pressed to  a  fraction  and  Money  created  in  limitless 
abundance. 

But  I  do  not  thence  conclude  that  Paper  Money  is  a 
delusion,  and  that  Coin  alone  should  constitute  our  Cir- 
culating Medium.  Golden  yardsticks  would  measure 
Textile  Fabrics  with  perfect  accuracy ;  yet  it  would  not 
be  well  to  forbid  the  use  of  any  other  ;  since  gold  is 
scarce  and  dear,  many  yardsticks  are  required,  and  we 
have  those  that  answer  the  purpose  made  of  materials 
far  cheaper  than  gold.  Have  a  golden  one,  if  you  will, 
at  the  Treasury,  the  State  House,  the  City  Hall,  and 
enact  that  every  one  in  use  shall  be  tested  by  and  con- 
formed to  that ;  but  to  require  every  yardstick  to  be  of 
gold  would  absorb  in  yardsticks  too  large  a  share  of  the 
National  wealth,  for  which  we  have  other  and  better  uses. 
Between  the  bigotry  which  regards  all  Paper  Money  as 
virtually  counterfeit,  and  the  folly  which  would  enrich  a 
people  by  burying  them  in  shinplasters,  there  is  a  happy 
medium  ;  and  this  medium  experience  and  discussion 
will  yet  make  plain  to  the  great  body  of  those  who 
earnestly,  dispassionately  seek,  not  personal  advantage, 
but  the  widest  and  highest  public  good. 


SLAVERY.  81 


VI. 

SLAVERY  —  HIRED   LABOR  —  PROPORTION  — 
COOPERATION. 

SLAVERY  appears  to  be,  for  the  second  time,  dying 
out  of  the  civilized  world,  whei'ein  its  lingering  remnants 
can  hardly  outlast  the  present  century.  Yet  it  so  dis- 
appeared once  before,  and  was  thereafter  revived  by  the 
Spaniards  reducing  to  bondage  the  innocent,  hapless 
Aborigines  of  the  West  Indies  directly  after  the  dis- 
covery of  those  isles  by  Columbus  ;  soon  followed  by  the 
introduction  of  captive  negroes  from  Africa,  under  the 
specious  plea  of  mitigating  the  sufferings  of  the  far 
weaker  Aborigines,  and  paralleled  by  the  atrocious  decree 
of  the  Muscovite  Czar  Boris  Godinoff,  whereby  the  rural 
peasantry  throughout  his  dominions  were  "  adscribed  " 
or  confined  to  the  estates  of  the  nobles  respectively; 
being  permitted  to  pass  their  boundaries  only  by  express 
permission.  Negro  bondage  did  not  save  the  fettered 
Indians,  who  rapidly  faded  away  ;  but  it  was  speedily 
communicated  to  the  Spanish  Main,  and  spread  like  a 
pestilence  over  nearly  all  of  North  as  well  as  South 
America  that  had  as  yet  been  colonized  from  Europe. 
Labor  being  in  eager  demand  in  all  young  and  gi'owing 
settlements,  which  are  apt  to  be  largely  peopled  by  ad- 
venturers who  have  migrated  thither  expressly  to  escape 
the  necessity  of  working,  while  dollars  or  other  means 
of  payment  are  usually  scarce  among  pioneers,  the 
temptation  to  purchase  slaves  at  the  low  prices  asked  for 
them  by  the  early  importers  from  the  African  coast  was 
obviously  strong.  The  negroes,  unlike  the  "  Indians," 
4*  F 


82  POLITICAL   ECONOMY. 

were  generally  robust  and  muscular  ;  they  were  all  well 
adapted  to  the  rude,  rugged  labor  mainly  required  in 
young  colonies,  where  clearing  the  land  of  timber  and  a 
rouo-h  kind  of  agriculture  are  the  main  pursuits ;  the 
pioneers  —  of  whom  many  left  their  native  land  because 
of  a  disagreement  with  its  laws  or  its  magistrates  — 
were  little  troubled  with  moral  scruples  and  seldom  ex- 
posed to  the  censorship  of  a  vigorous  public  sentiment  : 
so  Slavery,  and  kindred  aberrations  from  the  straight 
line  of  eternal  right,  are  apt  to  take  root  in  them,  un- 
noted, or  at  least  unforbidden.  Thus,  in  spite  of  some 
feeble,  ineffective  protests,  was  America,  so  far  as  it  had 
been  Europeanized,  all  but  covered  with  a  black  pall  of 
bondage  a  century  ago,  —  as  Europe  had  been  fifteen  to 
twenty  centuries  before,  and  as  Asia  and  Africa  had  been 
at  an  earlier  day,  and  in  good  part  still  remain. 

In  fact,  Slavery  is  probably  one  of  the  oldest  condi- 
tions of  systematic  industry.  The  barbarian,  having  a 
taste  for  comforts  and  even  luxuries,  yet  hating  the  toil 
whereby  they  are  created  or  procured,  fancies  it  harder 
to  work  himself  than  to  compel  some  weaker  or  more 
timorous  person  to  labor  for  his  profit,  —  in  his  stead. 
So,  making  war,  or  finding  one  ready  made,  he  invades 
in  force  his  enemy's  territory,  or  pushes  stealthily  across 
its  border,  and  captures  men,  women,  and  children,  to  be 
henceforth  constrained  to  labor  as  his  slaves.  Unfortu- 
nate or  profligate  parents  give  or  sell  the  children  they 
are  unable  to  rear  in  comfort  to  the  powerful  and  provi- 
dent, by  whom  they  are  bred  as  servants  for  life.  Thus 
Slavery  roots  itself  in  barbarism  ;  the  slave  becomes  the 
main  if  not  the  sole  reliance  for  regular,  constant  labor, 
which  is  thence  regarded  with  greater  aversion  and 
spurned  so  far  as  possible  by  the  free  as  the  business  and 
badge  of  serfdom.  The  formation  of  a  numeroxis  work- 
ing-class rapidly  increases  the  aggregate  of  comforts  and 


SLAVERY  —  HIRED   LABOR.  83 

luxuries  ;  so  that  the  community  gradually  emerges  into 
a  semi-civilization  which  evermore  betrays  its  barbaric 
origin  and  genius  through  duels,  street-brawls,  and  a 
real  or  affected  fondness  for  "  the  pomp  and  circumstance 
of  glorious  War."  A  highly  cultivated  and  polished 
caste  may  be  developed  under  such  auspices  ;  but  not  an 
intelligent,  refined,  and  truly  civilized  people. 

These  considerations  derive  importance  from  the  immi- 
nence on  this  continent  of  a  deluge  of  Asiatic  paganism, 
whereof  the  opening  showers  have  already  reached  our 
Western  coast.  As  yet,  our  Mongolian  visitors  are  sub- 
stantially free  to  labor  as  they  will  and  for  whom  they 
will,  so  long  as  they  render  due  obedience  to  our  laws. 
As  yet,  I  judge  that  the  benefits  resulting  from  their 
immigration  have  decidedly  overbalanced  the  evils.  But 
what  has  hitherto  been  a  rivulet  may  at  an  early  day  be- 
come a  Niagara,  hurling  millions  instead  of  thousands 
upon  us  from  the  vast,  overcrowded  hives  of  China  and 
India,  to  cover  not  only  our  Pacific  slope  but  the  Great 
Basin,  and  pour  in  torrents  through  the  gorges  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  into  the  vast,  inviting  Valley  of  the 
Mississippi.  This  prospect  demands  instant,  earnest 
consideration.  The  stream  of  Mongol  immigration  may 
vastly  enlarge  itself,  yet  remain  beneficent  and  fertiliz- 
ing ;  but  not  if  it  is  to  work  (as  many  apprehend)  a 
retrograde  change  in  our  industrial  organization,  and  re- 
sult in  the  establishment  of  a  novel  and  specious  Serf- 
dom but  little  removed  in  essence  from  old-fashioned 
Slavery. 

For  the  Wages  system,  with  all  its  defects  and  abuses, 
is  an  immense  advance  upon  the  mildest  and  least  ob- 
jectionable form  of  Slavery.  The  worker  for  Wages  has 
rights  which  the  law  affirms  and  constrains  all  men  to 
respect :  his  wife  and  children  are  his,  and  in  no  sense 
another's  ;  the  latter  are  sometimes  invited  by  the  State 


84  POLITICAL   ECONOMY. 

to  partake  of  the  bounties  and  blessings  of  an  education, 
•which  may  be  rudimentary  and  imperfect,  yet  is  still  of 
inestimable  value  ;  he  is  usually  a  citizen  and  a  voter, 
and  may  almost  always,  by  good  conduct,  become  either 
or  both  if  he  be  not  already  such  ;  he  can  often  save  a 
part  of  his  earnings,  and  thus  gradually  win  his  way 
to  independence  and  competence  ;  he  has  always  before 
him  the  prospect  of  becoming  his  own  master,  and  even 
the  employer  of  others,  —  a  prospect  which  should,  and 
often  does,  make  him  considerate  of  the  rights  and  sav- 
ing of  the  property  of  those  to  whom  he  sells  his  servi- 
ces. He,  surely,  has  never  been  a  slave  who  rashly 
proclaims  the  hireling's  condition  no  better  than  the 
bondman's. 

Yet  the  Wages  system  is  commendable  only  when 
placed  in  contrast  with  absolute  bondage.  Regarded 
abstractly,  it  betrays  many  glaring  imperfections.  If 
paid  "  by  the  piece "  (by  tale),  the  hireling  is  under  a 
constant  temptation  to  slight  his  work,  —  to  do  it  so  that 
it  will  pass  muster,  rather  than  so  that  it  will  render  the 
most  service.  If  paid  by  the  hour,  day,  week,  month,  or 
year,  he  is  tempted  to  give  time  rather  than  work,  —  to 
weary  out  the  stipulated  period  while  performing  as  little 
downright  labor  as  will  answer.  To  secure  the  most  pay 
for  the  least  work  is  the  problem  which  too  often  taxes 
the  brain  of  the  hireling,  tempting  him  to  imitate  the 
slave's  idleness  and  eye-service,  though  with  less  than 
the  slave's  justification.  The  highest  average  skill  and 
efficiency  can  never  be  developed  through  a  Labor  sys- 
tem so  radically  vicioiis. 

Improvidence  is  another  vice  inherent  in  the  Wages 
system.  The  apprentice  of  yesterday,  living  on  a  very 
scanty  allowance  beyond  his  board,  finds  himself  to-day 
a  journeyman,  capable  of  earning  double  the  sum  required 
to  satisfy  his  real  needs.  He  receives,  at  the  close  of 


HIRED   LABOR.  85 

each  week  or  month,  money  that  he  should  save  and 
safely  invest ;  but  he  has  not  been  trained  to  saving ;  he 
has  loose  cronies  and  hot  passions,  which  prompt  him  to 
spend  on  baneful  indulgences  and  vicious  gratifications 
that  which  should  be  cherished  as  the  nest-egg  of  his 
future  fortune.  Thus  he  runs  through  the  five  or  six 
years  which  intervene  between  his  majority  and  his  mar- 
riage, "  sowing  his  wild  oats,"  only  to  gather  a  boun- 
teous harvest  of  future  poverty,  infirmity,  remorse,  and 
premature  decay.  Nine-tenths  of  our  young  men  might 
save  in  those  years  the  means  of  securing  themselves 
against  absolute  want  evermore,  —  might  lay  the  sure 
foundations  of  future  independence,  comfort,  competence  ; 
yet  the  great  majority  fail  to  do  so,  partly  for  lack  of 
proper  moral  training  in  childhood,  partly  through  the 
influence  of  prodigal  and  vicious  associates,  yet  partly 
also  because  the  Wages  system  does  not  prompt  to  fore- 
cast and  saving,  but  rather  to  present  gratification  and 
indulgence  in  the  fullest  measure  attainable.  The  yo\mg 
man  who  finds  himself,  for  the  first  time,  the  master  of 
an  income  twice  as  large  as  is  required  to  supply  his  real 
needs,  and  surrounded  by  shopmates  and  other  familiars 
who  have  made  it  their  rule  of  life  to  "  live  as  they  go," 
will  very  generally  fall  into  their  ways,  acquire  their 
habits,  and  imbibe,  if  not  outdo,  their  vices.  Culpable 
as  he  may  be,  the  system  which  afforded  him  the 
means  of  lavish  outlay,  and  presented  no  counter  induce- 
ment to  save  and  thrive,  is  by  no  means  to  be  accounted 
guiltless. 

The  Wages  system  foments  hostility  between  Capital 
and  Labor,  employer  and  employed.  The  latter  feels  no 
direct,  tangible  interest  in  the  prosperity  of  the  business 
whence  he  draws  his  subsistence  ;  his  sole  concern  being  as 
to  the  amount  of  his  dividend  therefrom.  Is  he  engaged 
in  making  Iron  1  What  cares  he  for  the  market  price  of 


86  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

Iron  ?  He  must  have  his  wages,  whether  his  employer 
is  working  at  a  profit  or  at  a  loss  ;  that  is  not  his  affair. 
If  Iron  were  suddenly  to  fall  twenty-five  per  cent,  he 
could  with  difficulty,  if  at  all,  be  made  to  realize  that  he 
ought  to  work  any  cheaper  than  before.  And,  indeed, 
since  his  employer  would  be  very  unlikely  to  volunteer 
an  increase  of  wages  because  the  price  of  iron  had  sud- 
denly risen  twenty-five  per  cent,  he  is  right  in  resisting 
a  reduction  so  long  as  he  safely  may.  Still,  the  fact  that 
a  vicious  system  has  placed  the  interests  of  employer  and 
employed  in  seeming  if  not  real  antagonism  weakens 
and  disorganizes,  not  that  trade  merely,  but  Production 
in  general.  Industry  can  never  exert  its  due  influence 
over  legislation  and  government  until  the  interests  of 
employer  and  employed  shall  have  been  not  merely 
harmonized  in  fact,  but  the  parties  made  to  feel  that 
they  are  so. 

The  Wages  system  works  habitual  injustice  between 
man  and  man.  I  do  not  believe  that  employers  are 
habitual  oppressors,  —  that  the  current  rates  of  wages 
are  uniformly  or  generally  too  low.  On  the  contrary,  I 
hold  that  —  at  least  in  this  country,  where  every  one 
may  have  land  for  the  asking  and  become  his  own  em- 
ployer if  he  will  —  the  average  range  of  wages  is  sub- 
stantially fair  and  just.  I  see  young  men  in  thousands 
leaving  the  farms  on  which  they  were  reared,  and  which 
they  have  at  length  inherited,  to  earn  wages  in  cities  and 
villages  ;  and  I  cannot  but  feel  that  they  do  this  mainly 
under  the  promptings  of  self-interest,  —  do  it  because 
they  can  thus  earn  more,  enjoy  more,  than  if  they  re- 
mained at  home  and  employed  themselves.  He  who, 
being  able  to  do  tlnis,  sells  his  services  to  another,  there- 
by confesses  that  the  wages  he  receives  are  more  than 
he  could  earn  by  working  for  himself.  Admit  that  the 
employer  procures  the  labor  and  skill  he  needs  at  the 


HIRED  LABOR.  87 

lowest  market  rates  (which^is  generally,  though  not  uni- 
formly, the  case),  it  is  equally  clear  that  the  employed 
usually,  if  not  always,  sells  his  services  for  the  most  that 
any  one  will  give  for  them  :  so  that  if  A.  works  for  B.  for 
less  than  A.  deems  his  labor  worth,  it  is  clear  that  others 
are  of  B.'s  rather  than  A.'s  opinion ;  since,  if  they  were 
not,  some  one  else  would  secure  those  services  by  offer- 
ing a  higher  price  for  them.  And  if  A.  blames  B.  for 
offering  so  little,  he  ought  still  more  to  blame  others, 
who  offer  either  less  or  nothing  at  all. 

And,  while  I  hold  Wages  in  general  the  fair  equiva- 
lent of  the  services  they  buy,  I  see  clearly  that  they  are 
at  best  a  rude  approximation  to  justice,  regarded  in  their 
application  to  individual  cases.  Here  are  one  hundred 
employes  in  a  shop  or  factory,  each  working  for  an  estab- 
lished and  uniform  rate  of  weekly  or  monthly  pay.  But 
their  work  is  not  of  uniform  value,  —  not  within  twenty- 
five  per  cent,  of  it.  One  is  a  skilful,  thoroughly  instruct- 
ed craftsman,  who  does  a  man's  full  work,  and  turns  out 
none  but  the  best  products  ;  another  comes  to  work  late 
and  irregularly,  wastes  time  in  every  way,  can  barely 
pass  muster  as  an  artisan,  and  his  handiwork  narrowly 
escapes  condemnation.  These  men's  services  are  not  of 
equal  value,  and  probably  never  will  be ;  and  the  fact 
that  their  remuneration  is  equal  tends  to  discourage  ex- 
cellence and  fill  our  shops  and  factories  with  slovenly, 
inert,  ( half-taught  journeymen.  This  is  not  quite  so  bad 
as  Slavery,  wherein  the  slave  is  deterred  from  evincing 
unusual  skill,  diligence,  efficiency,  lest  he  should  thereby 
strengthen  the  barrier  between  him  and  freedom,  by  in- 
creasing his  master's  estimate  of  his  pecuniary  value ; 
but  the  vice  of  the  system  is  rather  inferior  in  degree  to 
than  different  in  kind  from  that. 

Having  overthrown  Slavery,  we  must  gradually  out- 
grow the  ineradicable  vices  of  the  Wages  system.  These 


88  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

are  not  imbedded  in  political  institutions,  unjust  laws, 
and  atrocious  judicial  decisions ;  so  they  cannot  be  as- 
sailed by  storm  and  overthrown  by  superior  force  as 
Slavery  was,  —  they  must  be  slowly  sapped,  patiently 
undermined,  and  gradually  replaced  by  a  better  arrange- 
ment. This  work  begins  with  the  immense  advantage 
of  an  open  field  for  inquiry  and  discussion.  Slavery 
would  not  —  perhaps  could  not —  tolerate  criticism,  but 
promptly  suppressed  opposition  and  silenced  cavil  by  the 
revolver  and  Bowie-knife.  The  Wages  system  can  claim 
no  such  immunity  from  criticism,  but  must  plead,  when- 
ever arraigned,  at  the  bar  of  reason.  Thus  far,  it  only 
demurs,  —  "  Show  us  your  better  plan  for  inciting  and 
rewarding  universal  Industry,  and  prove  it  not  only 
ideally  just  but  practically  fitted  to  endure  the  shocks 
and  buffets  of  conflicting  interests,  jealousies,  rivalries, 
and  mutual  distrusts."  Here  the  controversy  halts  — 
must  halt  —  to  await  practical  demonstrations.  It  is 
idle  to  criticise  what  is,  unless  we  are  prepared  to  show 
that  something  better  is  ready  to  take  its  place,  and 
keep  it. 

There  is  this  to  be  said  for  the  Wages  system,  —  that 
the  world's  necessary  work  does  get  done  by  it,  —  imper- 
fectly, if  you  will,  and  with  but  an  approach  to  justice, 
yet  still  much  better,  and  with  less  hardship,  than  under 
any  system  which  preceded  it.  Whenever  some  better 
system  shall  have  been,  not  merely  devised,  but  put  into 
actual  operation,  and  shall  have  proved  capable  of  hold- 
ing its  ground  for  years  against  all  the  assaults  of  hu- 
man perversity,  selfishness,  and  folly,  then  we  may  confi- 
dently look  for  its  wide  and  ultimately  general  adoption. 

The  rude  outlines  of  such  a  substitute  are  already 
visible.  The  Whaling  industry  of  our  country  has  been 
generally  prosecuted  on  a  basis  of  partnership  for  a 
century.  The  entire  venture  is  represented  by  (we  will 


COOPERATION.  89 

say  one  hundred)  shares,  whereof  the  owners  of  the 
vessel  are  allotted  a  certain  number,  those  who  supply 
the  outfit  perhaps  as  many  more,  leaving  (say)  fifty, 
whereof  the  captain  has  (say)  ten,  the  mate  five,  the 
minor  officers  three,  the  experienced  whalers  two,  and 
green  hands  one  each,  until  the  full  number  is  ap- 
portioned. If,  now,  the  venture  prove  successful,  —  if 
the  vessel  is  rapidly  filled  with  oil  and  bone,  and  returns 
in  triumph  after  a  comparatively  short  absence,  —  every- 
one interested  shares  ratably  in  her  good  fortune  ;  if 
she  has  bad  luck,  her  crew  may  come  home  poor  as  they 
departed,  while  her  owners  are  poorer.  How  admirably 
calculated  is  this  "  lay  "  to  secure  daring,  vigilance,  effi- 
ciency, on  the  part  of  every  person  embarked  in  the 
venture,  T  need  not  insist  on. 

This  exemplification  of  a  law,  though  striking,  is  by 
no  means  solitary.  A  number  of  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments have  been  founded  on,  or  modified  into  con- 
formity with,  the  principle  of  making  each  worker  a 
partner  in  the  business,  —  a  sharer  in  its  profits  and  (of 
course)  in  its  risks  as  well.  "  Union  stores,"  and  other 
combinations  to  procure  the  necessaries  of  life  on  favor- 
able terms,  and  preeminent  among  them  "  the  Equi- 
table Pioneers"  of  Rochdale  (England),  illustrate  dif- 
ferent phases  of  the  general  idea.  In  attempting  its 
reduction  to  practice,  there  have  of  course  been  many 
errors  and  failures,  as  there  doubtless  will  be  many 
more  ;  and  it  may  be  fairly  said,  that,  apart  from  sundry 
enterprises  wherein  a  common  and  ardent  religious  faith 
supplied  the  necessary  cement,  no  effort  at  complete 
unification  of  interests  and  efforts,  in  the  household  as 
well  as  in  the  field  or  factory,  has  thus  far  achieved 
success,  while  hardly  one  has  avoided  absolute,  unequiv- 
ocal failure.  These  facts  are  instructive ;  they  will  by 
most  be  judged  conclusive,  —  but  to  what  extent  1 


90  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

When  Franklin  was  asked  in  Europe  if  his  countrymen 
were  not  short-lived,  he  replied  that  the  point  could  not 
yet  be  determined,  as  the  first  generation  were  not  all 
dead.  Cooperation  has  achieved  success  in  certain 
efforts,  and  has  encountered  failure  in  others.  Arrange- 
ments are  even  now  in  progress  designed  to  test  (in 
Kansas)  the  practicability  of  complete  Industrial  Asso- 
ciation on  a  larger  scale  and  with  greater  facilities  than 
any  former  experiment  has  enjoyed.  All  such  efforts 
must  be  regarded  as  tentative,  experimental,  likely  to 
fail,  yet  not  impossibly  destined  to  succeed  ;  and  in 
either  case  calculated  to  shed  light  on  one  of  the  most 
interesting  and  important  problems  that  ever  yet  chal- 
lenged the  attention  of  mankind.  A  hundred  such  may 
fail  to  achieve  success,  without  exhausting  the  infinitely 
varied  conditions  under  which  success  may  be  sought,  — 
whereby  it  may  yet  be  attained.  And,  if  it  shall  finally 
be  proved  that  a  complete  Association  in  industrial  and 
social  effort  by  several  hundreds  of  persons  or  families  is 
impossible,  it  by  no  means  follows  that  a  more  limited, 
qualified  combination  of  energies  and  efforts  is  imprac- 
ticable. Indeed,  every  Bank,  Railroad,  District  School, 
Church,  Township,  exemplifies,  more  or  less  perfectly, 
the  feasibility  of  such  combination.  Capital,  we  know, 
can  combine  to  achieve  results  otherwise  unattainable, 
—  witness  the  Panama  and  Pacific  Railroads,  the  Suez 
Canal,  —  and  it  remains  to  be  proved  that  Labor  is  too 
stolid  or  too  shallow  to  grasp  some  measure  of  the  ad- 
vantages to  be  achieved  only  through  Cooperation. 
Thus  far,  the  demonstrations  conclusively  attest  a  suc- 
cess which,  if  humble,  is  yet  indicative  of  further  tri- 
umphs.  Labor  has  evidently  passed  its  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  and  sees  boundless  oceans  of  beneficent  possibility 
stretching  away  into  immensity  before  it. 

Nor  should  we  be  discouraged  by  the  consideration 


COOPERATION.  91 

that  further  achievement  in  this  direction  requires  a 
measure  of  capacity,  foresight,  endurance,  faith,  self- 
denial,  whereof  the  masses  have  not  yet  been  proved 
possessors.  Progress  receives  its  impulse  rarely  from  the 
multitude,  but  from  the  enlightened,  generous,  unselfish 
few,  whom  the  masses  follow  only  as  the  mob  of  adven- 
turers followed  in  the  track  of  Columbus  after  he  had 
discovered  the  New  World.  The  radical  defect  of  the 
Wages  system  is  its  unfitness  to  develop  and  nourish 
the  very  qualities  which  are  needed  to  insure  the  suc- 
cess of  Cooperation.  That  success  may  be  achieved  by 
thousands,  while  the  millions  remain  incredulous  or  in- 
different ;  these  will  be  ready  enough  to  accept  and  profit 
by  it  when  it  is  proved  that  they  may  thus  secure  their 
independence  or  increase  their  comforts.  The  very  first 
association  mainly  of  the  Laboring  Class  which  shall 
clearly  demonstrate  their  ability  to  supply  the  want  of  a 
great  capital  by  combining  their  moderate  means,  and 
directing  their  own  labor  to  profit  through  the  agency 
of  freely  chosen  foremen,  officers,  or  chiefs,  will  have 
done  more  for  the  Emancipation  and  Elevation  of  Labor 
than  all  the  speculators  and  system-builders  from  Plato's 
day  to  our  own. 

But  all  rational  hopes  of  continuous  improvement  in 
the  condition  of  the  Laboring  Class  rest  upon  and  as- 
sume the  essential  stability  of  their  employment,  and 
are  frequently  blown  to  the  winds  by  the  disastrous 
pressure  of  reckless  competition.  Establish  the  rule 
that  cheapness  in  money  price  is  to  be  sought  and  se- 
cured at  all  hazards,  hence  that  no  National  bai'rier 
shall  be  interposed  to  check  the  reckless  sweep  of  un- 
equal competition,  and,  so  far  at  least  as  regards  all 
products  which  embody  large  values  in  small  mass,  — 
that  is,  Textile  Fabrics  and  most  other  Manufactures 
save  the  rudest  and  most  bulky,  —  the  countries  which 


92  POLITICAL   ECONOMY. 

eminently  combine  Capital,  Intelligence,  Skill,  Experi- 
ence, the  command  of  Steam  and  Machinery,  with  cheap 
Labor,  will  inevitably  underwork  and  undersell  the 
younger,  less  advanced,  less  artificial  communities, 
wherein  Capital  is  relatively  scarce,  the  Industrial  Arts 
more  primitive,  and  Labor  commands  a  larger  average 
reward.  It  is  of  such  competition  that  Louis  Blanc  has 
forcibly  said  i1- 

"  The  principle  on  which  modern  society  rests  is  that  of 
isolation  and  antagonism ;  it  is  that  of  Competition.  Let  us 
consider  a  little  what  such  a  principle  can  carry  in  its 
train. 

"  Competition  is  the  perpetual  and  progressive  increase  of 
poverty.  Instead  of  associating  forces,  that  they  may  pro- 
duce the  most  useful  results,  Competition  perpetually  places 
them  in  a  state  of  warfare,  and  reciprocally  annihilates  them, 

—  destroying  one  by  the  other What  fortunes  are 

formed  solely  of  ruins !  And  of  how  many  tears  is  often 
composed  the  good  fortune  of  those  we  call  happy !  Is  it. 
then,  a  good  state  of  society  which  is  so  constituted  that  the 
prosperity  of  one  fatally  corresponds  with  the  sufferings  of 
others  ?  Is  that  a  principle  of  order,  of  conservation  of 
wealth,  which  makes  of  Society  a  disorderly  confusion  of 
forces,  triumphing  only  by  the  incessant  destruction  of  oppos- 
ing forces  ? 

"  Competition  is  a  source  of  general  impoverishment,  be- 
cause it  induces  an  immense  and  continual  loss  of  human 
labor;  because,  every  day,  every  hour,  everywhere,  it 
reveals  its  empire  by  the  annihilation  of  vanquished  In- 
dustry, —  that  is  to  say,  by  the  annihilation  of  capital,  of 
raw  material,  of  time,  of  labor  employed.  I  do  not  hesitate 
to  assert  that  the  mass  of  wealth  thus  devoured  is  so  great 
that  any  one  who  could  at  a  glance  measure  it  would  recoil 
with  horror. 

"  Competition  is  a  source  of  general  impoverishment,  be- 
cause it  delivers  up  Society  to  the  gross  government  of 

1  Address  to  Delegates  of  Workmen  on  the  Organization  of  Labor  : 
Paris,  April  3,  1848. 


COOPERATION.  93 

chance.  Is  there  under  this  system  a  single  producer,  a 
single  laborer,  who  does  not  depend  on  the  closing  of  some 
distant  factory,  on  a  failure  which  takes  place,  on  a  machine 
suddenly  discovered  and  placed  at  the  exclusive  disposition 
of  a  rival  ?  Is  there  a  single  producer,  a  single  laborer,  whose 
good  conduct,  foresight,  or  wisdom,  can  guarantee  him 
against  the  effects  of  an  industrial  crisis  ?  " 

The  justice  of  these  strictures  I  have  at  least  twice 
seen  realized  on  a  gigantic  scale,  in  the  general  prostra- 
tion of  the  Manufacturing  Industry  of  my  countrymen 
xinder  the  pressure  of  European,  mainly  of  British,  com- 
petition. That  Industry  was  thus  crushed  out  after 
the  peace  of  1815,  when  the  eminent  Henry  Brougham 
(afterward  Lord  Brougham)  remarked  (when  Great 
Britain  was  pouring  out  the  goods  that  crushed  our  then 
infant  manufactures)  that  "  England  can  afford  to  incur 
some  loss,  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  foreign  manu- 
factures in  their  cradle  "  ;  and  the  noted  economist  and 
Free-Trader,  Joseph  Hume,  made  a  similar  remark  in 
1828.  Our  tariff  enacted  in  that  year  rendered  all  ef- 
forts to  cripple  and  prostrate  our  manufacturing  industry 
temporarily  fruitless ;  but  it  was  otherwise  after  the 
Compromise  Tariff  of  1833  began  to  take  full  effect,  in 
that  reduction  of  duties  to  a  (presumptively)  Revenue 
standard  which  culminated  in  the  collapse  alike  of  In- 
dustry and  Revenue  in  1840  -  42. 

A  report  on  Strikes,  made  to  the  British  Parliament 
in  1854,  significantly  said  :  — 

"  Authentic  instances  are  well  known  of  [British]  employ- 
ers having  in  such  times  [of  depressed  prices]  carried  on  their 
works  at  a  loss  amounting  to  three  or  four  hundred  thousand 
pounds  in  the  course  of  three  or  four  years.  If  the  efforts 
of  those  who  encourage  the  combination  to  restrict  the 
amount  of  labor,  and  to  produce  strikes,  were  to  be  success- 
ful for  any  length  of  time,  the  great  accumulations  of  capital 


94  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

could  no  longer  be  made,  which  enable  a  few  of  the  most 
wealthy  capitalists  to  overwhelm  all  foreign  competition  in 
times  of  great  depression,  and  thus  to  clear  the  way  for  the 
whole  trade  to  step  in  when  prices  revive,  and  to  carry  on  a 
great  business  before  foreign  capital  can  again  accumulate  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  be  able  to  establish  a  competition  in 
prices  with  any  chance  of  success." 

Those,  whether  capitalists  or  laborers,  on  whom  the 
heavy  blows  thus  dealt  took  immediate  effect  were  as 
impotent  to  resist  or  evade  them  as  a  feather  in  the  vor- 
tex of  a  tornado.  Of  these  great  commercial  cyclones 
which  from  time  to  time  sweep  over  the  civilized  world, 
annihilating  Property  and  paralyzing  Industry,  the  area 
and  the  fury  are  enormously  increased  by  that  excessive 
interweaving  and  commingling  of  National  interests 
and  industries  which  is  the  necessary  consequence  — 
and,  indeed,  the  avowed  object  —  of  Free  Trade. 


MONOPOLY.  95 


VII. 


MONOPOLY  — THE  LAW  OF  PRICES  —  EFFECT 
OF  DUTIES  ON  COST. 

MONOPOLY  is  perhaps  the  most  perverted  and  misap- 
plied word  in  our  much-abused  mother  tongue.  The 
term  is  properly  applicable  solely  to  an  exclusive  privi- 
lege, conferred  by  law  or  patent,  to  make,  vend,  or  sup- 
ply, a  certain  article  or  articles  ;  though  Noah  Webster 
justifies  also  the  use  of  the  word  in  that  qualified  or 
accommodated  sense  in  which  it  is  applied  to  a  tempo- 
rary control  of  the  market,  obtained  by  buying  up  the 
entire  stock  on  hand  or  accessible,  and  holding  it  for 
exorbitant  prices.  Formerly,  the  British  monarchs 
claimed  and  exercised  the  right  of  granting  monopolies 
by  patent ;  and  Anderson  says  : l  — 

"  Such  grants  were  common  previously  to  the  accession  of 
the  House  of  Stuart,  and  were  carried  to  a  very  oppressive 
and  injurious  extent  during  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 
Commercial  monopolies  reached  to  such  a  height  in  England 
that  Parliament  petitioned  against  them,  and  they  were  in 
consequence  mostly  abolished,  about  the  close  of  Elizabeth's 
reign,  1602.  They  were  further  suppressed,  as  being  con- 
trary to  law,  under  James  I.,  in  1622,  and  were  totally  abol- 
ished under  Charles  I.,  in  1640,  and  it  was  decreed  that  none 
should  be  in  future  created,  as  was  previously  the  custom." 

Of  course,  it  is  possible  to  regard  every  exclusive  pos- 
session, —  the  power  of  Pope  or  Czar,  President  or  Gov- 
ernor, —  as,  in  some  vague,  secondary  sense,  a  monopoly, 
since  it  is  peculiar  and  exclusive  ;  and  so  a  man  may  be 

1  History  of  Commerce. 


96  POLITICAL   ECONOMY. 

said  to  have  a  monopoly  of  his  wife  and  children,  —  of 
the  farm  he  has  bought  and  paid  for  or  hewed  out  of  the 
primitive  wilderness;  and  so  on,  until  everything  but 
air  and  sunshine  may  be  spoken  of  as  monopolized. 
This,  however,  is  hyperbole,  bearing  but  a  faint  resem- 
blance to  fact.  If  the  law  here  conferred  on  one  person 
the  exclusive  right  to  make  Blankets  or  Brandy,  Ships 
or  Sheetings,  we  might  accurately  pronounce  that  man 
a  monopolist,  and  deprecate  his  privilege  as  stifling  en- 
terprise and  stimulating  extortion. 

But  with  what  reason,  with  what  justice,  does  one 
say  that  an  impost  or  tax  on  imported  Iron  or  Nails, 
Cloth  or  Cutlery,  creates  a  monopoly  1  A  great  many 
of  our  countrymen  were  previously  employed  in  making 
these  articles  :  which  of  them  has  been  granted  a  mo- 
nopoly 1  In  what  sense  is  a  monopoly  accorded  to  any  or 
the  whole  of  them  together  ?  Do  we  not  know  that,  not 
only  will  each  of  them  sell  as  his  own  interest  prompts, 
and  increase  his  product  so  fast  and  so  far  as  he  can  do 
so  with  profit,  but  that  any  one  else  who  will  may  embark 
in  the  business  whenever  he  shall  see  fit  ?  —  nay,  do  we 
not  know  that  this  impost  or  tax  will,  to  a  moral  cer- 
tainty, impel  hundreds  to  do  so  ]  How  can  A.  have  had 
conferred  on  him  by  law  a  monopoly  of  that  which  B., 
C.,  D.,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  alphabet,  are  not  only  at 
perfect  liberty  to  embark  in  whenever  they  will,  but 
which  this  very  act  strongly  tends  to  invite  them  to 
engage  in,  having  been  passed  for  that  express  purpose  1 

In  1822,  a  very  earnest  effort  was  made  to  increase 
the  then  existing  Tariff  (of  1816)  with  a  view  to  more 
efficient  Protection;  and  the  bill  prevailed  in  the  House, 
but  was  beaten  in  the  Senate.  Massachusetts  was  then 
eminently  commercial,  and  conspicuously  hostile  to  Pro- 
tection. The  Hon.  James  Lloyd,  one  of  her  Senators, 
used  with  effect  this  argument  against  the  passage  of 
the  bill  :  — 


MONOPOLY.  97 

"  I  am  (said,  he  in  substance)  interested  in  manufac- 
turing. I  own  stock  in  one  of  the  very  few  cotton-mills 
now  running  in  my  State.  That  mill  regularly  pays 
good  dividends,  and  is  likely  to  do  so  indefinitely,  if  the 
Tariff  be  let  alone.  But,  should  you  pass  this  bill,  hun- 
dreds of  such  factories  will  be  erected,  till  the  market  is 
glutted  with  their  fabrics,  when  prices  must  fall,  and 
our  concera,  very  possibly,  may  be  broken  down.  I 
choose  to  let  well  alone,  and  entreat  you  not  to  pass  this 
bill."  (I  state  the  above  from  recollection  ;  but  I  think 
not  inaccurately.) 

Nearly  a  qiiarter  of  a  century  had  intervened  before 
the  defeat,  in  1844,  of  Mr.  Clay  as  a  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent incited  and  justified  apprehension  that  the  Protec- 
tive Tariff  of  1842  would  be  overthrown  under  the  in- 
coming Administration  of  Colonel  Polk.  Pennsylvania 
was  strongly  interested  in  the  continuance  of  Protection, 
yet  had  given  a  small  popular  majority  for  Polk,  some 
of  whose  zealous  partisans  had  gravely  assured  their 
neighbors  that  he  was  a  better  Protectionist  than  Clay. 
A  meeting  was  called  at  Pittsburg  to  rejoice  over  Folk's 
triumph ;  and  to  this  meeting  the  Hon.  James  Buchanan 
(who  had  voted  in  Congress  for  the  Tariffs  of  1824, 
1828,  and  1842)  transmitted  this  sentiment  :  — 

"  Domestic  Manufactures.  —  They  have  been  saved,  by  the 
election  of  James  K.  Polk,  from  being  overwhelmed  by  the  im- 
mense capital  which  would  have  rushed,  into  them  for  invest- 
ment, and  from  an  expansion  of  the  currency  which  would 
have  nullified  any  Protection  short  of  prohibition." 

When  a  general  revision  of  the  Tariff  was  last  before 
the  House  of  Representatives  (February,  1867),  I  was 
on  the  floor,  and,  meeting  a  leading  member  from  Mis- 
souri, I  said  to  him  :  "  It  does  not  disappoint  me  to  see 
Massachusetts  lukewarm  and  half-hearted  in  support  of 
Protection,  — her  factories  are  built  and  running ;  she  has 


98  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

machinery,  skill,  experience,  markets  ;  I  expect  her  soon 
to  desert  us,  under  the  impression  that  she  has  more  to 
dread  henceforth  from  American  than  from  Foreign  compe- 
tition;— but  what  you  Missourians,  with  your  vast  wealth 
of  unopened  mines,  your  unused  water-power,  your  un- 
built factories,  can  mean  by  voting  against  Protection,  I 
cannot  imagine."  My  Missouri  friend  winced  a  little, 
but  replied  :  "  I  think  we  might  harmonize  on  this  sub- 
ject, were  it  not  for  the  Pennsylvanians  —  the  Iron  men  ; 
they  are  too  greedy." — "  Stop  ! "  I  rejoined,  "  and  answer 
me  one  plain  question  right  here  :  Suppose  the  duty  on 
imported  Iron  were  $  1,000  per  ton,  and  could  never  be 
less  ;  what  would  then  govern  the  price  of  Iron  in  this 
country  ?"•  —  "!  suppose,"  he  replied,  "  that  the  price 
of  Iron  would  be  governed  by  the  cost  of  producing  it." 
"  Quite  right,"  I  responded  ;  "  and  it  seems  to  me  that 
you,  who  comprehend  so  well  the  law  governing  prices, 
must  know  better  than  to  vote  here  with  the  enemies  of 
Protection." 

Not  many  months  ago,  the  price  of  fair,  merchantable 
Brick  in  this  city  ranged  from  $  15  to  $  16  per  thousand. 
Extensive  building  had  run  it  up  to  that  figure,  —  the 
demand  for  Brick  pressing  hard  on  the  heels  of  supply. 
The  brick -makers  along  the  Hudson  were  coining  money ; 
and  of  course  more  yards  were  opened,  more  and  more 
brick  made,  until  the  price  was  pressed  down  to  $  9  and 
$  10  per  thousand,  from  which  it  has  since  slightly  ad- 
vanced. In  neither  case,  was  the  price  at  all  affected  by 
importation,  or  duties  on  imports,  —  Brick  being  too 
bulky  to  bear,  in  ordinary  times,  the  cost  of  an  ocean 
voyage.  The  price  rose  because  the  demand  for  Brick 
rapidly  and  steadily  increased  till  the  supply  became  in- 
adequate :  then  the  enhanced  price  incited  a  largely  in- 
creased production  ;  and  this  in  turn  bore  down  the 
price  :  then  the  production  slackened,  and  the  price  be- 


MONOPOLY.  99 

gan  to  rise  again.  No  scales  or  steel-yards  ever  respond- 
ed more  surely  to  the  law  of  gravitation  than  did  the 
Brick  manufacture  and  market  to  the  kindred  law  of 
supply  and  demand. 

I  ask,  then,  why  this  law  may  not,  in  the  absence  of 
foreign  competition,  be  trusted  to  regulate  the  price  of 
Iron  (for  instance)  precisely  as  it  does  that  of  Brick  ] 
Ore,  Coal,  and  Limestone  —  the  raw  materials  required 
for  the  production  of  Iron  —  are  found  on  almost  every 
hundred  miles  square  of  our  country  :  our  rivers,  lakes, 
sounds,  canals,  and  railroads,  afford  extensive,  though  as 
yet  imperfect,  facilities  for  their  cheap  concentration ; 
they  can  be  bought,  as  they  lie  where  Nature  placed 
them,  as  cheaply  here  as  elsewhere,  —  the  Government 
having  still  millions  of  acres  filled  with  them  for  sale  at 
ten  York  shillings  per  acre,  —  while  the  high  wages  of 
the  last  seven  years  have  drawn  hither  some  of  the  most 
skilful  and  experienced  iron-makers  of  Europe,  to  say 
nothing  of  those  trained  and  schooled  on  our  own  soil. 
Suppose,  now,  that  our  present  Iron-masters,  being  very 
human,  want  to  make  money  too  fast,  and  are  thus 
moved  to  ask  too  much  for  their  metal,  what  under 
Heaven  prevents  others  from  going  into  the  business, 
and  so  increasing  the  product  till  the  price  of  Iron  comes 
down  as  that  of  Brick  so  lately  did  1  Has  the  Prophet 
Elisha  been  working  another  and  more  gigantic  miracle, 
whereby  Iron  is  made  to  defy  the  law  of  gravitation  ] 
Say  that  all  Protectionists  are  so  greedy  that  they  exact 
fifty  per  cent,  more  for  their  Iron  than  it  is  worth,  what 
hinders  Free-Traders  from  stepping  in  and  enriching 
themselves,  while  blessing  their  fellow-citizens,  by  making 
a  plenty  of  Iron  at  fair  prices  ]  There  is  no  mystery, 
there  is  no  magic,  in  Iron-making;  it  requires  no  elaborate 
preparation  or  enormous  aggregation  of  capital ;  there 
are  thousands  all  around  us  who  could  run  up  a  furnace 


100  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

and  smelt  therein  Ore  into  Pig  as  promptly  and  cheaply 
as  it  is  now  done ;  and  they  are  ready  for  the  work,  — 
not  to  speak  of  furnaces  out  of  blast  and  now  for  sale  at 
less  than  cost.  Why  is  it  that  Free-Traders  don't  and 
won't  make  Pig  Iron,  when  the  business  is  so  simple  and 
they  say  it  is  so  enormously  profitable  ?  Some  of  them 
own  long  lines  of  railroads  which  require  thousands  of 
tons  of  new  rails,  chairs,  spikes,  &c.,  annually,  and  could 
easily  make  them  if  they  would ;  why  don't  they  1  They 
understand  business ;  they  own,  or  at  least  wield,  ample 
capital ;  they  are  not  averse  to  making  profits.  Why 
can't  they  be  persuaded,  coaxed,  jeered,  shamed,  driven, 
into  making  American  Iron,  instead  of  standing  aside  to 
make  faces  at  those  who  do  1  What  answer  1 

In  all  the  dissertations  of  Free-Traders,  I  meet  an 
unfailing,  quiet  assumption  that  a  Tariff  must  enhance 
the  PRICE  of  a  given  article,  or  it  can  do  our  producers 
of  that  article,  no  good.  The  truth,  as  I  apprehend  it,  is 
otherwise. 

I  am  a  manufacturer  of  newspapers,  —  bred  to  that 
trade,  which  I  have  assiduously  followed  through  life. 
I  have  made  a  fair  living  by  that,  and  nothing  to  speak 
of  by  anything  else.  Having  given  forty-odd  years  to 
its  acquirement  and  prosecution,  I  ought  to  have  a  tol- 
erable comprehension  of  its  wants  and  its  laws.  It  hap- 
pens not  to  be  one  that  needs  direct  legal  Protection, 
because  an  imported  newspaper  cannot  supplant  or  re- 
place an  American  one,  as  a  piece  of  foreign  calico  or 
shirting  can  take  the  place  and  subserve  the  end  of  one 
made  in  this  country.  I  make  no  pretensions  to  unself- 
ishness, and  would  gladly  make  more  money  by  my 
business  than  I  now  do.  Yet  I  do  not  want  a  higher 
price  for  my  product,  would  not  raise  that  price  if  I  could. 
I  would  like  to  double  the  demand  for  that  product,  — 


THE  LAW   OF   PRICES.  101 

to  sell  a  thousand  copies  where  I  now  sell.five  hundred, — - 
to  have  a  sale  that  would  keep  my  steam  presses  and 
other  costly  machinery  running  up  to  the  limit  of  their 
capacity.  Secure  me  such  a  market,  and  I  will  agree 
never  to  ask  an  enhanced  price  while  I  live.  Nay,  I 
would  covenant  to  make  a  better  and  more  costly  paper 
than  I  can  now  afford,  if  I  could  thereby  secure  a  quick 
demand  for  all  the  copies  I  could  print.  I  now  give  a 
better  paper  than  I  could  possibly  afford  for  the  price,  if 
the  edition  I  print  during  the  night  could  be  rivalled  and 
superseded  by  British  journals  arriving  by  steamer  in  the 
gray  of  the  morning.  And  this  is  true  of  newspapers 
generally ;  and  true,  I  presume,  of  Prints  or  De  Laines, 
as  well  as  of  newspapers. 

Years  ago,  under  a  low  duty,  we  imported  most  of 
the  Starch  used  in  this  country,  making  a  little  capri- 
ciously when  the  market,  from  whatever  cause,  was  bare  ; 
but  soon  a  fresh  importation  would  flood  our  ports, 
shutting  up  our  starch-factories  and  driving  out  their 
workmen  to  find  employment  at  something  else.  Of 
course,  they  acquired  no  decided  proficiency  in  the  art, 
and  our  Starch  was  undoubtedly  inferior  in  quality  to  its 
imported  rival.  But  the  Tariff  of  1842  imposed  a  duty 
of  two  cents  per  pound  on  imported  Starch  ;  and,  at 
once,  a  leading  house  in  this  city  resumed  its  long  sus- 
pended manufacture  of  Starch,  called  in  its  scattered 
workmen,  made  a  good  article,  and  put  it  on  the  market 
half  a  cent  per  pound  below  the  price  previously  ruling. 
This  was  done  purely  on  business  principles,  —  because 
Starch  could  be  afforded  for  less  in  a  large  and  steady 
market  than  in  one  contracted  and  capricious. 

Mr.  Clay,  in  his  Raleigh  speech,1  pleasantly  exposed 
the  fallacy  of  the  Free-Trade  assumption  that  the  price  of 
an  article  is  enhanced  by  the  amount  of  the  duty  there- 

l  June  17, 1844. 


102  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

on,  by  citing  the  discomfiture  of  a  Democratic  canvasser 
who,  seeing  a  shabbily  dressed  hearer  just  in  front  of 
him,  arrested  the  regular  flow  of  his  eloquence  long 
enough  to  ask,  "My  friend,  do  you  know  that  these 
Tariff  monopolists  make  you  pay  six  cents  per  yard  more 
than  you  should  for  that  shirt  you  have  on  1 "  —  "  I  sup- 
pose it  must  be  so,  since  you  say  it,"  responded  the  sur- 
prised and  scared  auditor;  "but  I  have  no  learning,  and 
don't  quite  understand  it,  since  I  only  gave  five  and  a 
half." 

The  Tariff  of  1842  found  the  duties  on  Cotton  fabrics 
very  low,  and  raised  them  to  a  minimum  of  six  cents 
per  square  yard  on  plain  and  nine  cents  per  square  yard 
on  printed  or  colored,  —  which  was  in  fact  higher  than 
though  it  had  been  one  hundred  per  cent,  on  the  import- 
ers' valuation  of  their  goods.  No  doubt,  this  enhance- 
ment shut  out  foreign  and  enlarged  the  market  for  our 
American  fabrics,  as  it  was  intended  to  do.  "  Of  course, 
the  manufacturers  raised  their  prices,"  you  say.  No, 
they  did  not ;  though  they  probably  would  have  done  so 
if  they  could.  They  did  not,  because,  1.  They  could 
make  cheaper,  running  their  machinery  full  time  hi 
presence  of  an  ample  and  eager  market,  than  running 
capriciously  and  while  obliged  to  keep  their  goods  on 
hand  for  months,  awaiting  purchasers ;  2.  Because  com- 
petition was  keen  among  them,  and  kept  down  prices  to 
the  point  at  which  a  fair,  living  profit  could  be  made,  — 
he  who  refused  to  sell  at  such  rates  losing  his  customers 
to  rivals  who  believed  in  the  nimble  sixpence.  So  Mr. 
Samuel  Lawrence,  writing  from  Lowell  (December  14, 
1842)  in  reply  to  my  inquiry  for  specific  information  as 
to  the  effect  of  the  new  Protective  Tariff  on  the  prices 
of  cotton  fabrics,  gave  the  following  exhibit  of  the  prices 
at  which  Lowell  fabrics  sold  for  the  three  months  before 
and  the  three  months  after  the  passage  of  that  act : l  — 
1  Approved  August  20, 1842. 


EFFECT   OF  DUTIES   ON  COST.  103 

AVERAGE   PRICES   OF  LOWELL  COTTON   FABRICS. 

In  May,  June,  and  July,  1842.  In  Sept.,  Oct.,  and  Nov.,  do. 
Drillings,                     7f  cts.  per  yard.        7  cts.  per  yard. 

Shirtings,  common,  5£  "       "  5           "       " 

Shirtings,  heavy,       G|  "       "  5f         "       « 

Sheetings,  common,  6f  "       "  6           "         1 

Sheetings,  wide,       s|  "       "  7f         "       "J 

Flannels,  (cotton,)  10  "       "  4         "       " 

Here  (as  in  the  case  of  Starch,  before  cited)  the 
American  producers  of  Cotton  fabrics  were  not  only 
enabled  to  sell  their  products  cheaper  in  the  larger  and 
surer  market  secured  to  them  by  Protection ;  they 
actually  did  it,  —  doubtless  to  their  own  profit. 

Now  look  at  the  same  truth  from  the  other  side  :  — 
Mr.  Edward  C.  Delavan,  in  a  letter  to  The  Northern 
Light  of  December,  1842,  quoted  the  circular  and  price- 
list  of  a  British  hardware  house  in  this  city,  intent  on 
retaining  its  customers  in  this  country  in  spite  of  the 
enhanced  duties  on  their  goods  levied  by  the  Tariff  of 
that  year.  This  circular  and  price-list  were  addressed 
(October  26)  to  Messrs.  Erastus  Corning  &  Co.,  Albany 
(among  others),  and  gave  in  parallel  columns  the  prices 
they  charged  respectively  before  and  after  our  Protective 
Tariff  was  passed  :  the  reductions  being  nicely  grad- 
uated to  meet  the  increased  duties,  —  an  invoice  of 
twenty  articles,  which  cost  £143  16s.  under  our  old 
Revenue  Tariff,  being  put  at  £131  10s.  under  our  new 
Protective  Tariff;  making  the  cost  here,  after  paying  the 
enhanced  duty,  a  little  less  than  it  was  under  the  old 
tariff.  Here  there  was  no  more  pretence  of  philan- 
thropy than  in  the  case  of  the  Lowell  men  just  cited. 
The  Lowell  manufacturers  sold  their  goods  lower  under 
the  Protective  Tariff  because  they  cost  them  less  than 
when  their  market  was  restricted,  languid,  doubtful, 
capricious ;  the  British  hardware  men  sold  their  goods 


104  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

cheaper,  because  they  must  otherwise  lose  their  Ameri- 
can customers,  and  they  preferred  a  market  with  small 
profits  to  no  market  and  no  profit  at  all.  Each,  I  pre- 
sume, sold  for  the  most  they  could  get ;  but  our  con- 
sumers were  supplied  with  both  Hardware  and  Cotton 
Fabrics  at  lower  prices  because  of  Protection. 

Let  me  not  even  seem  to  maintain  that  Protection 
always  and  everywhere  produces  an  immediate  reduction 
of  prices.1  Doubtless,  we  are  now  paying  more  for  some 
articles  —  such  as  Iron  and  Steel  —  than  we  should  pay 
if  they  were  imported  free  of  duty.  But  abundant  facts 
sustain  and  justify  these  general  propositions  :  — 

I.  The  circumstance  that  an  article  is  largely  import- 
ed under  a  duty  of  thirty  per  cent,  by  no  means  proves 
that  it  would  be  sold  here  thirty  per  cent,  cheaper  2  if 
the  duty  were  abolished. 

1  "  The  League  "  (the  Free-Trade  organ  in  this  country)  for  May, 
1868,  under  the  head  of  "  Protection  Unattainable  by  Tariff,"  says:  — 

"  Factories  were  not  extensively  established  until  the  war  of  1812, 
and  were  specially  protected  by  the  Tariff  of  1816.  This  raised  the 
price  at  first,  and  was  all  the  encouragement  that  was  desired.  But, 
in  a  little  while,  another  effect  followed :  The  foreign  manufacturers 
contrived  to  reduce  the  cost  of  producing  their  goods,  by  improved  ma- 
chinery and  other  means,  and  submitted  to  a  reduction  of  their  profits  in 
order  to  keep  as  much  as  they  could  of  American  trade  by  counteracting 
the  Tariff";  while  the  American  manufacturers,  who  could  only  supply 
a  part  of  the  demand  for  broadcloths,  found  their  profits  diminished  by 
the  rise  in  the  cost  of  labor  and  subsistence,  which  was  caused  by  the 
diversion  of  labor  from  its  natural  channels.  To  this  was  added  the 
more  abundant  capital  of  the  foreign  manufacturers,  enabling  them  to 
give  longer  credits ;  their  wider  access  to  established  markets  enabling 
them  to  accept  a  lower  rate  of  profits,  and  the  great  advantage  of  being 
already  established,  with  machinery  all  built,  trade  all  regulated,  and  in 
the  midst  of  a  superabundant  supply  of  labor,  which  had  no  competing 
opening,  and  which  could  therefore  be  had  for  the  asking,  at  the  lowest 
wages  on  which  people  could  live." 

2  Mr.  Commissioner  Wells,  in  a  note  to  his  last  Annual  Report, 
says : — 

"  The  experience  of  Great  Britain  for  the  last  twenty  years  in  re- 
spect to  Tea,  as  a  source  of  revenue  under  the  customs,  has  established 
this  curious  fact,  that  a  decrease  of  the  tariff  on  this  article  brings  no 


EFFECT   OF   DUTIES   ON  COST.  105 

II.  The  cheapest  articles  in  this  as  in  any  other  coun- 
try are  those  which  are  wholly  or  mainly  home-made. 
Thus,  we  make  nearly  all  our  Axes,  Ploughs,  Harrows, 
Scythes,    Hoes,    Spades,    Shovels,    &c. ;    and   the   wide 
world  can  show  none  better  nor  (of  like  quality)  cheaper 
than  ours.     On  the   other  hand,  we   have  hitherto  im- 
ported most  of  our  Log-Chains,  Trace-Chains,  Saws,  &c.; 
and  these  are  not  relatively  so  cheap,  and  have  not  im- 
proved in  efficiency  so  decidedly,  as  the  farming  imple- 
ments that  we  mainly  make  at  home. 

III.  Whenever   a  department    of    manufacturing   or 
other  industry  has  become  firmly  established   in   our 
country,  —  whether  by  the  aid  of  Protection  or  other- 
wise, —  so  that  its  endurance  and  expansion  are  virtually 
assured,  we  may  safely  rely  on  domestic  competition  to 
graduate  the  price  of  its  product,  the  profit  of  the  pro- 
ducers, to  the  average  standards  afforded  by  other  and 
kindred  pursuits.     Unless  self-interest  has  ceased  to  in- 
fluence human  conduct,  we  may  be  sure  that,  if  Corn  or 
Cotton  should  this  year  be  produced   to  great  profit, 
more  people  would  engage  in  its  production  next  year, 
and  so  reduce  prices  and  profits  ;  and  the  rule  holds 

corresponding  benefit  in  the  way  of  reduction  of  price  to  the  con- 
sumer. Thus,  for  example,  while  the  duty  on  Tea,  under  the  British 
tariff,  was  reduced  to  the  extent  of  77  per  cent,  between  the  years 
1849  and  1866  (from  2  s.  2^  d.  in  1849  to  6  d.  in  1866),  the  average  price 
of  Tea  '  in  bond,'  or  duty-free,  during  the  same  period,  exhibited  a 
corresponding  increase  of  about  fifty  per  cent.  (i.e.  from  1  s.  1  d.  to  1  s. 
7;J  d.);  and  this,  too,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  supply  through 
importation  had  nowise  abated,  but,  on  the  contrary,  increased  during 
the  years  1862  -  63  to  an  extent  sufficient  to  overstock  the  market. 
The  explanation  of  this  commercial  phenomenon  is,  that  there  being 
practically  but  one  Tea-producing  country,  the  trade  partakes  of  the 
character  of  monopoly  to  such  a  degree  that  a  decrease  of  the  duty 
enures  mainly  to  the  advantage  of  the  producer,  and  an  increase,  con- 
versely, to  his  disadvantage.  The  opinion,  therefore,  so  often  expressed 
of  late,  that  a  reduction  of  the  present  duty  on  Tea  would  result  to  the 
advantage  of  the  American  consumer,  is  not  likely  to  be  practically 
realized." 

5* 


106  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

good  with  regard  to  Pig  and  Bar  Iron,  Wool  and  Wool- 
lens, Prints  and  Sheetings.  Protection  determines  only 
that  certain  articles  shall  be  mainly  produced  in  the  con- 
suming country ;  it  does  not  decide  that  A.  or  B.  shall 
have  a  monopoly  of  their  manufacture.  And  when  Mr. 
Commissioner  Wells  asserts,  evidently  alleging  a  per- 
manent, and  not  merely  a  transient  result,  that  — 

"  It  not  unfrequently  happens  that  the  imposition  of  a  tax 
in  the  form  of  a  tariff  on  an  imported  article  is  made  the  oc- 
casion for  very  greatly  and  unnecessarily  advancing  the  price 
of  a  corresponding  domestic  product  "  — 

he  ignores  and  defies  a  law  as  inexorable  as  gravitation, 
—  that  which  impels  men  to  rush  into  a  pursuit  which 
is  supposed  to  yield  extraordinary  profits.  Let  one 
farmer  make  money  by  growing  Hops  (for  instance),  and 
twenty  others  will  forthwith  plant  hop-yards,  —  very 
possibly  to  their  own  damage  and  loss,  but  very  cer- 
tainly to  the  reduction  of  the  average  profit  of  Hop- 
growing.  If  Wool  sells  exceptionally  high,  Sheep  will 
increase  and  multiply ;  if  Lumber  brings  a  high  price 
this  Summer,  the  pine-trees  are  bound  to  suffer  for  it 
next  Winter.  He  who  imagines  that  the  law  here  indi- 
cated stops  short  at  the  doors  of  a  furnace  or  factory, 
fearing  to  venture  in,  evinces  deplorable  ignorance  or 
"blinding  prejudice.  Cost  is  the  general  measure  of 
Price,  alike  in  the  presence  and  in  the  absence  of  Pro- 
tection. True,  if  there  were  but  one  mine  of  Zinc  or 
Copper  in  our  country,  a  high  duty  on  that  mineral 
might  enrich  the  owner  or  owners  of  that  mine ;  and 
thus  it  may  be  that  the  owners  of  certain  ingenious  in- 
ventions subservient  to  the  production  of  Screws  have 
realized  large  profits  on  their  patents,  —  larger,  it  may 
be,  than  they  would  have  done  in  the  absence  of  any 
duty  on  imported  Screws  ;  but  they  owe  their  good  for- 
tune primarily  to  their  inventions  or  patents,  and  but 


EFFECT  -OF   DUTIES   ON   COST.  107 

subofdinately  to  the  Tariff.  Had  there  been  no  duty 
on  Screws,  they  would  still  have  held  substantial  posses- 
sion of  our  market,  and  realized  large  profits  therefrom, 
though  they  might  have  been  constrained  to  make  their 
Screws  in  Europe,  because  of  the  relative  cheapness  of 
foreign  labor.  Their  patents  would  have  held  good  here 
in  any  case ;  the  Tariff  only  makes  it  their  interest  to 
manufacture  in  this  country  rather  than  abroad.  And 
I  hold  mankind  benefited  and  the  world  enriched  by 
the  development  and  perfection  of  the  Screw  manufac- 
ture in  this  country  which  the  last  few  years  have  wit- 
nessed, —  a  development  to  which  Protection  gave  an 
impulse,  by  naturalizing  this  industry  among  us,  and 
thus  calling  into  activity  the  genius  for  invention  which 
might  else  have  passed  away  undemonstrated  and  un- 
known. In  a  few  years  the  patents  will  all  have  ex- 
pired, as  I  am  assured  most  of  them  have  already  done ; 
while  the  inventions  they  cover,  the  new  industry  they 
have  built  Tip,  will  remain  an  embodiment  of  Man's 
power  over  material  Nature  and  a  blessing  to  all  genera- 
tions. 


108  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 


VIII. 

AGRICULTURE  AS  AFFECTED  BY  PROTECTION 
-VIEWS  OF  THE  FATHERS. 

WHOEVER  is  familial-  with  our  country's  Economic  and 
Fiscal  legislation  must  concede  the  following  positions : — 

I.  That  the  great  men  who  framed,  advocated,  and 
secured,  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  who 
ruled  the  country  throughout  the  next  generation,  and 
thus  laid  the  foundations  of  our  National  policy,  were 
not  manufacturers  nor  interested  in  any  form  of  handi- 
craft, but  were  for  the  most  part  connected,  directly  or 
indirectly,  with  the  Farming  or  Planting  interest,  which 
was  then  not  merely  the  dominant  but  the  sole  reliance 
of  nine-tenths  of  our  People. 

II.  That  these  great  men  all  but  unanimously  sug- 
gested and  commended  the  fostering  of  Home  Manufac- 
tures   by   discriminating    Protective   Duties    on    their 
Foreign  rivals. 

III.  That  they  undoubtingly  believed  that,  in  so  doing, 
they  were  subserving  the  interest  of  American  Agricul- 
ture and  laboring  to  secure  to  themselves  and  their  fel- 
low farmers  or  planters,  not  merely  a  more  assured  and 
constant,  but  a  more  ample,  recompense  for  their  labor, 
by  creating  larger,  nearer,  steadier,  and  better,  markets 
for  their  products. 

Generations  swiftly  succeed  each  other,  and  truths 
which  were  familiar  forty  years  ago,  having  been  over- 
laid by  the  exciting  topics  and  events  of  the  last  decade, 
may  be  unknown  to  many  now  on  the  stage  of  action. 
For  the  benefit  of  these,  I  proceed  to  prove  what  is  al- 
ready well  known  to  older  readers. 


AGRICULTURE   AS   AFFECTED   BY   PROTECTION.   109 

General  Washington, — an  extensive  and  practical  far- 
mer through  life,  never  interested,  so  far  as  I  can  learn, 
in  the  manufacture  even  of  a  Jew's-harp,  —  in  his  first 
Annual  Message1  (which  he  read  in  person  to  Con- 
gress), says  :  — 

"  The  safety  and  interest  of  the  People  require  that  they 
should  promote  such  Manufactures  as  tend  to  render  them 
independent  of  others  for  essential,  particularly  for  Military, 
supplies." 

Congress  responded  to  this  suggestion  by  ordering  2  — 

"  That  it  be  referred  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  to 
propose  and  report  to  this  House  a  proper  plan  or  plans,  con- 
formably to  the  recommendation  of  the  President  in  his 
speech  to  both  Houses  of  Congress,  for  the  encouragement 
and  promotion  of  such  manufactories  as  will  tend  to  render 
the  United  States  independent  of  other  nations  for  essential, 
particularly  for  Military,  supplies." 

The  Secretary  thus  appealed  to  was  ALEXANDER  HAM- 
ILTON, —  not  a  small  man  for  those  days,  and  never, 
so  far  as  I  have  heard,  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
either  horn  gunflints  or  basswood  pumpkin-seeds.  He 
took  time  to  consider  the  matter,  and  at  length  respond- 
ed3 in  a  Report  which  remains  a  landmark  in  our  his- 
tory. I  will  here  quote  from  it  just  enough  to  show  the 
grounds  on  which  Colonel  Hamilton  based  his  advocacy 
of  a  Protective  policy,  with  his  conception  of  its  bearings 
on  Agriculture  and  of  its  National  importance.  If  any 
reader  shall  deem  his  view  narrow  or  partial,  mole-eyed 
or  sordid,  I  shall  be  sorry  for  that  reader,  not  for  Alex- 
ander Hamilton,  who,  in  his  introductory  paragraph, 
says  :  — 

"  The  embarrassments  which  have  obstructed  the  progress 
of  our  external  trade  have  led  to  serious  reflections  on  the 

1  January  8, 1790.  8  December  5, 1791. 

2  January  15,  1790. 


110  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

necessity  of  enlarging  the  sphere  of  our  domestic  commerce. 
The  restrictive  regulations  which,  in  foreign  markets,  abridge 
the  vent  for  the  increasing  surplus  of  our  agricultural  pro- 
duce, serve  to  beget  an  earnest  desire  that  a  more  extensive 
demand  for  that  surplus  may  be  created  at  home ;  and  the 
complete  success  which  has  rewarded  manufacturing  enter- 
prise in  some  valuable  branches,  conspiring  with  the  promis- 
ing symptoms  which  attend  some  less  mature  essays  in 
others,  justify  a  hope  that  the  obstacles  to  the  growth  of  this 
species  of  industry  are  less  formidable  than  they  were  appre- 
hended to  be,  and  that  it  is  not  difficult  to  find  in  its  further 
extension  a  full  indemnification  for  any  external  disadvan- 
tages which  are  or  may  be  experienced,  as  well  as  an  acces- 
sion of  resources  favorable  to  national  independence  and 
safety." 

The  House  of  Representatives,  impelled  by  this  Re- 
port, proceeded  to  create  a  Standing  Committee  of  Com- 
merce and  Manufactures,  which  it  continued  for  twenty 
years  thereafter,  and  then  divided,  because  of  the  great 
variety  and  importance  of  the  subjects  claiming  its  at- 
tention. The  fact  that  Manufactures  were  deemed, 
under  the  sway  of  Washington  and  Hamilton,  deserving, 
in  connection  with  Commerce,  the  regard  of  a  Standing 
Committee  of  Congress,  remains. 

President  Washington,  in  his  second  Annual  Address l 
to  Congress,  thus  tersely  and  forcibly  affirms  his  un- 
changing convictions  :  — 

"  Congress  have  repeatedly,  and  not  without  success,  di- 
rected their  attention  to  the  encouragement  of  manufactures. 
The  object  is  of  too  much  consequence  not  to  insure  a  con- 
tinuance of  their  efforts  in  every  way  which  shall  appear 
eligible." 

Thomas  Jefferson  was,  like  Washington,  a  farmer  or 
planter,  and  never  personally  connected  with  Manufac- 
tures or  interested  therein.  Yet,  in  his  second  Annual 

1  December  7, 1796. 


VIEWS   OF   THE  FATHERS.  Ill 

Message,1  he  deliberately  sums  up  the  legitimate  objects 
or  purposes  of  the  Federal  Government,  in  these  words :  — 

"  To  cultivate  peace  and  maintain  commerce  and  naviga- 
tion in  all  their  lawful  enterprises  |  to  foster  our  fisheries  as 
nurseries  of  navigation,  and  for  the  nurture  of  man,  and  pro- 
tect the  manufactures  adapted  to  our  circumstances ;  to  pre- 
serve the  faith  of  the  nation  by  an  exact  discharge  of  its 
debts  and  contracts,  expend  the  public  money  with  the  same 
care  and  economy  we  would  practise  with  our  own,  and  im- 
pose on  our  citizens  no  unnecessary  burden ;  to  keep  in  all 
things  within  the  pale  of  our  constitutional  powers,  and  cher- 
ish the  Federal  Union  as  the  only  rock  of  safety,  —  these, 
fellow-citizens,  are  the  landmarks  by  which  we  are  to  guide 
ourselves  in  all  our  proceedings.  By  continuing  to  make 
these  the  rule  of  our  action,  we  shall  endear  to  our  country- 
men the  true  principles  of  their  Constitution,  and  promote  a 
union  of  sentiment  and  of  action  equally  auspicious  to  their 
happiness  and  safety." 

In  a  subsequent  Message,2  in  view  of  the  rapid  reduc- 
tion and  in  anticipation  of  the  early  extinguishment  of 
the  National  Debt,  he  inquires,  with  regard  to  the  ex- 
pected surplus  of  revenue  :  — 

"  To  what  other  objects  shall  these  surpluses  be  appropri- 
ated, and  the  whole  surplus  of  impost  after  the  entire  dis- 
charge of  the  public  debt,  and  during  those  intervals  when 
the  purposes  of  war  shall  not  call  for  them  ?  Shah1  we  sup- 
press the  impost,  and  give  that  advantage  to  foreign  over 
domestic  manufactures  ?  " 

These  fond  anticipations  were  suddenly  blasted  by  the 
wrongs  to  which  our  commerce  was  exposed  by  the  ar- 
bitrary British  "Orders  in  Council,"  declaring  the  entire 
coast  of  France  under  blockade  and  every  vessel  trading 
thereto  lawful  prize  of  war,  with  the  equally  unjustifi- 
able and  even  less  plausible  "  Decrees,"  dated  at  Berlin 

1  December  15, 1802.  a  December  2, 1806. 


112  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

and  Milan  respectively,  with  which  Napoleon  retaliated. 
Mr.  Jefferson  felt  constrained  thereby  to  embargo  our 
own  merchant  vessels,  forbidding  them  to  trade  with 
either  of  the  belligerents  until  those  atrocious  "  Orders  " 
and  "  Decrees  "  should  be  rescinded.  Our  Revenue  there- 
upon shrank  from  a  river  to  a  rivulet,  and  the  payment 
of  our  Debt  was  arrested,  but  our  still  infant  Manufac- 
tures received  a  powerful  impetus.  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  his 
last  Annual  Message,1  refers  to  the  changed  condition  as 
follows  :  — 

"  The  suspension  of  foreign  commerce  produced  by  the  in- 
justice of  the  belligerent  powers,  and  the  consequent  losses 
and  sacrifices  of  our  citizens,  are  subjects  of  just  concern. 
The  situation  into  which  we  have  thus  been  forced  has  im- 
pelled us  to  apply  a  portion  of  our  industry  and  capital  to 
internal  manufactures  and  improvements.  The  extent  of  this 
conversion  is  daily  increasing,  and  little  doubt  remains  that 
the  establishments,  formed  and  forming,  will  —  under  the 
auspices  of  cheaper  materials  and  subsistence,  the  freedom 
of  labor  from  taxation  with  us,  and  of  protecting  duties  and 
prohibitions  —  become  permanent." 

President  Madison  has  been  styled  the  Father  of  the 
Constitution.  He  certainly  bore  a  leading  part  in  its 
formation  and  in  commending  it  to  popular  acceptance. 
His  philosophic  spirit,  his  habitual  moderation  and  equi- 
poise, give  weight  to  his  oracles  of  wise  and  cautious 
statesmanship.  In  his  second  Annual  Message2  he 
says  :  — 

"  I  feel  particular  satisfaction  in  remarking  that  an  interior 
view  of  our  country  presents  us  with  grateful  proofs  of  its 
substantial  and  increasing  prosperity.  To  a  thriving  agricul- 
ture, and  the  improvements  relating  to  it,  is  added  a  highly 
interesting  extension  of  useful  manufactures,  the  combined 
products  of  professional  occupations  and  of  household  indus- 

1  November  8, 1808.  2  December  5, 1810. 


VIEWS   OF  THE  FATHERS.  113 

try.  Such,  indeed,  is  the  experience  of  economy,  as  well  as 
of  policy,  in  these  substitutes  for  supplies  heretofore  obtained 
by  foreign  commerce,  that,  in  a  national  view,  the  change  is 
justly  regarded  as,  of  itself,  more  than  a  recompense  for  those 
privations  and  losses,  resulting  from  foreign  injustice,  which 
furnished  the  general  impulse  required  for  its  accomplishment. 
How  far  it  may  be  expedient  to  guard  the  infancy  of  this 
improvement  in  the  distribution  of  labor,  by  regulations  of 
the  commercial  tariff,  is  a  subject  which  cannot  fail  to  suggest 
itself  to  your  patriotic  reflections." 

In  his  next  Annual  Message1  he  recurs  to  the  subject 
in  these  terms  :  — 

"  Although  other  subjects  will  press  more  immediately  on 
your  deliberations,  a  portion  of  them  cannot  but  be  well  be- 
stowed on  the  just  and  sound  policy  of  securing  to  our  manufac- 
tures the  success  they  have  attained,  and  are  still  attaining,  in 
some  degree,  under  the  impulse  of  causes  not  permanent,  and 
to  our  navigation  the  fair  extent  of  which  it  is,  at  present, 
abridged  by  the  unequal  regulations  of  foreign  Governments. 

"  Besides  the  reasonableness  of  saving  our  manufactures 
from  sacrifices  which  a  change  of  circumstances  might  bring 
upon  them,  the  National  interest  requires  that,  with  respect 
to  such  articles  at  least  as  belong  to  our  defence  and  primary 
wants,  we  should  not  be  left  in  a  state  of  unnecessary  depend- 
ence on  external  supplies." 

War  with  Great  Britain  soon  followed  ;  and,  for  more 
than  two  years  ensuing,  the  land  resounded  to  the  clash 
of  arms.  When  peace  was  at  length  restored,  Mr.  Madi- 
son transmitted 2  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  to  Congress,  ac- 
companied by  an  explanatory  Message,  in  which  he 
says  :  — 

"  But  there  is  no  subject  that  can  enter  with  greater  force 
and  merit  into  the  deliberations  of  Congress  than  a  consider- 
ation of  the  means  to  preserve  and  promote  the  manufactures 
which  have  sprung  into  existence,  and  attained  an  unparal- 

l  November  5, 1811.  2  February  20,  1815. 

H 


114  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

leled  maturity  throughout  the  United  States  during  the  period 
of  the  European  Wars.  This  source  of  national  independence 
and  wealth,  I  anxiously  recommend,  therefore,  to  the  prompt 
and  constant  guardianship  of  Congress." 

Finally,  in  his  seventh  Annual  Message,1  to  a  new 
Congress,  about  to  enter  upon  the  revision  of  the  Tariff 
and  its  adaptation  to  the  changed  circumstances  of  our 
country,  consequent  not  merely  on  the  close  of  our  own 
War  with  Great  Britain,  but,  on  the  final  overthrow  of 
Napoleon,  and  the  resulting  restoration  of  peace  to  the 
world,  the  veteran  statesman,  about  to  take  leave  forever 
of  public  life,  addressed  words  freighted  with  the  wis- 
dom born  of  rare  natural  sagacity  and  the  observations 
of  a  long,  eventful,  thoughtful,  active,  honored  career. 
I  entreat  every  reader  to  weigh  carefully  every  word  of 
the  following,  in  contrast  with  the  antagonist  inculca- 
tions now  so  persistently  dinned  into  the  public  ear. 
Mr.  Madison  says  :  — 

"  In  adjusting  the  duties  on  imports  to  the  object  of  reve- 
nue, the  influence  of  the  tariff  on  manufactures  will  necessarily 
present  itself  for  consideration.  However  wise  the  theory 
may  be  which  leaves  to  the  sagacity  and  interest  of  individu- 
als the  application  of  their  industry  and  resources,  there  are 
in  this,  as  in  all  other  cases,  exceptions  to  the  general  rule. 
Besides  the  condition  which  the  theory  itself  implies,  of  a  re- 
ciprocal adoption  by  other  nations,  experience  teaches  that 
so  many  circumstances  must  concur  in  introducing  and  matur- 
ing manufacturing  establishments,  especially  of  the  more 
complicated  kinds,  that  a  country  may  remain  long  with- 
out them,  although  sufficiently  advanced,  and  in  some  respects 

even  peculiarly  fitted,  for  carrying  them  on  with  success 

In  selecting  the  branches  more  especially  entitled  to  the  pub- 
lic patronage,  a  preference  is  obviously  claimed  by  such  as 
will  relieve  the  United  States  from  a  dependence  on  foreign 
supplies,  ever  subject  to  casual  failures,  for  articles  necessary 
for  the  public  defence,  or  connected  with  the  primary  wants 

1  December  5, 1815. 


VIEWS   OF  THE  FATHERS.  115 

Ox  individuals.  It  will  be  an  additional  recommendation  for 
particular  manufactures  when  the  materials  for  them  are  ex- 
tensively drawn  from  our  agriculture,  and  consequently  im- 
part and  insure  to  that  great  fund  of  national  prosperity  and 
independence  an  encouragement  Avhich  cannot  fail  to  be  re- 
warded." 

Mr.  Alexander  J.  Dallas,  the  eminent  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  supplemented  *  Mr.  Madison's  Message,  with  a 
special  Report  (drawn  up  in  obedience  to  a  requirement 
of  the  House),  embodying  the  draft  of  a  Tariff  contem- 
plating both  Revenue  and  Protection,  and  cogently  com- 
mending the  policy  of  Protection.  I  ask  attention  to 
but  a  single  paragraph  of  that  Report,  which  bears  di- 
rectly on  the. points  under  discussion.  Says  Mr.  Dallas : — 

"  Although  some  indulgence  will  always  be  required  for 
any  attempt  so  to  realize  the  national  independence  in  the 
department  of  manufactures,  the  sacrifice  cannot  be  either 
great  or  lasting.  The  inconveniences  of  the  day  will  be 
amply  compensated  by  future  advantages.  The  agriculturist, 
whose  produce  and  whose  flocks  depend  for  their  value  upon 
the  fluctuations  of  a  foreign  market,  will  have  no  occasion 
eventually  to  regret  the  opportunity  of  a  ready  sale  for  his 
wool  or  his  cotton  in  his  own  neighborhood ;  and  it  will  soon 
be  understood  that  the  success  of  the  American  manufac- 
ture, which  tends  to  diminish  the  profit  (often  the  excessive 
profit)  of  the  importer,  does  not  necessarily  add  to  the  price 
of  the  article  in  the  hands  of  the  consumer." 

Mr.  Newton  of  Virginia,  —  who  lived  and  served  till 
he  was  known  as  the  father  of  the  House,  —  on  the  same 
day  made,  from  the  Committee  on  Commerce  and  Manu- 
factures, a  Report  urging  a  largely  increased  duty  on 
Cotton  Fabrics,  and  of  course  favoring  Protection  in 
general.  In  view  of  the  base  efforts  since  employed  to 
sow  dissension  not  only  between  different  classes  but 
between  different  sections  of  our  country,  on  the  assump- 

l  February  13,  1816. 


116  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

tion  that  Protection  taxes  one  for  the  benefit  of  another, 
I  solicit  attention  to  two  paragraphs  of  the  language  of 
the  Committee,  through  Mr.  Newton,  as  follows  :  — 

"The  States  that  are  most  disposed  to  manufactures  as 
regular  occupations  will  draw  from  the  agricultural  States  all 
the  raw  materials  which  they  want,  and  not  an  inconsiderable 
portion,  also,  of  the  necessaries  of  life ;  while  the  latter  will, 
in  addition  to  the  benefits  which  they  at  present  enjoy,  always 
command,  in  peace  or  in  war,  at  moderate  prices,  every  spe- 
cies of  manufacture  that  their  wants  may  require.  Should 
they  be  inclined  to  manufacture  for  themselves,  they  can  do 
so  with  success,  because  they  have  all  the  means  in  their 
power  to  erect  and  extend  at  pleasure  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments. Our  wants  being  supplied  by  our  own  ingenuity 
and  industry,  exportation  of  specie  to  pay  for  foreign  manu- 
factures will  cease." 

Referring  to  the  general  advantages  of  the  Protective 
system  in  developing  the  resources  of  the  whole  country, 
the  Committee  say  :  — 

"  Every  State  will  participate  in  those  advantages ;  the  re- 
sources of  each  will  be  explored,  opened,  and  enlarged.  Dif- 
ferent sections  of  the  Union  will,  according  to  their  position, 
the  climate,  the  population,  the  habits  of  the  people,  and  the 
nature  of  the  soil,  strike  into  that  line  of  industry  which  is 
best  adapted  to  their  interest  and  the  good  of  the  whole  ;  an 
active  and  free  intercourse,  promoted  and  facilitated  by  roads 
and  canals,  will  ensue ;  prejudices,  which  are  generated  by 
distance  and  the  want  of  inducements  to  approach  each  other 
and  reciprocate  benefits,  will  be  removed ;  information  will 
be  extended ;  the  Union  will  acquire  strength  and  solidity ; 
and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  that  of  each 
State,  will  be  regarded  as  fountains  from  which  flow  numer- 
ous streams  of  public  and  private  prosperity." 

The  Tariff  thereupon  framed  and  passed  was  reported 
by  William  Lowndes  of  South  Carolina,  one  of  the  ablest 
and  purest  men  whom  this  country  ever  knew.  One 
of  its  most  salient  provisions  was  that  which  established 


VIEWS   OF  THE  FATHERS.  117 

a  minimum  of  twenty-five  cents  per  square  yard  for 
Cotton  Fabrics,  —  that  is  to  say,  the  duties  on  Cotton 
and  on  Woollen  Fabrics  being  alike  fixed  at  twenty-five 
per  cent.,  it  was  provided  that  all  Cotton  Fabrics  in- 
voiced as  costing  less  than  twenty-five  cents  per  square 
yard  should  be  deemed  to  have  cost  that  sum,  and  sub- 
jected to  duty  accordingly.  The  effect,  of  course,  was 
to  make  the  amount  actually  assessed  on  cheap,  coarse 
Cotton  goods  equal  to  an  Ad  Valorem  impost  of  fifty  to 
one  hundred  per  cent.  [Here  is  that  atrocious  imposi- 
tion of  exorbitant  taxes  on  the  fabrics  worn  by  the  poor, 
while  those  bought  by  the  rich  pay  next  to  nothing, 
whereupon  modern  demagoguism  so  exuberantly  disports 
itself.]  A  desperate  effort  was  of  course  made  to  strike 
out  this  provision  for  a  minimum.  This  was  resisted 
by  JOHN  C.  CALHOUN,  then  a  young  member  from  South 
Carolina,  but  one  of  recognized  eminence  and  power. 
Mr.  Calhoun  based  his  support  of  a  high  specific  duty 
on  cheap,  coarse  Cotton  Fabrics,  on  these  grounds  : — 

"  Neither  agriculture,  manufactures,  nor  commerce,  taken 
separately,  is  the  cause  of  wealth ;  it  flows  from  them  com- 
bined, and  cannot  exist  without  each.  The  wealth  of  any 
single  nation,  or  individual,  it  is  true,  may  not  be  immediately 
derived  from  the  three  ;  but  such  wealth  always  presupposes 
the  existence  of  the  three  sources,  though  derived  imme- 
diately from  one  or  two  of  them  only.  Taken  in  its  most 
enlarged  sense,  without  commerce,  industry  would  have  no 
stimulus;  without  manufactures,  it  would  be  without  the 
means  of  production ;  and  without  agriculture,  neither  of  the 
others  can  exist.  When  separated  entirely  and  permanently, 
they  must  perish.  War,  in  this  country,  produces  to  a  great 
extent  that  separation ;  and  hence  the  great  embarrassment 
that  follows  in  its  train.  The  failure  of  the  wealth  and  re- 
sources of  the  nation  necessarily  involves  the  ruin  of  its  finan- 
ces and  its  currency.  It  is  admitted  by  the  most  strenuous 
advocates  on  the  other  side,  that  no  country  ought  to  be  de- 


118  POLITICAL  ECONOMY.   ' 

pendent  on  another  for  its  means  of  defence,  —  that  at  least 
our  musket  and  bayonet,  our  cannon  and  ball,  ought  to  be 
of  domestic  manufacture.  But  what  is  more  necessary  to 
the  defence  of  a  country,  than  its  currency  and  finance? 
Circumscribed  as  our  country  is,  can  these  stand  the  shock  of 
war  ?  Behold  the  effect  of  the  late  war  on  them !  When 
our  manufactures  are  grown  to  a  certain  perfection,  as  they 
soon  will  under  the  fostering  care  of  the  Government,  we  will 
no  longer  experience  those  evils.  The  farmer  will  find  a 
ready  market  for  his  surplus  produce,  and,  what  is  of  almost 
equal  consequence,  a  certain  and  cheap  supply  of  all  his 
wants." 

These  and  like  arguments  prevailed,  —  South  Carolina 
herself  giving  six  votes  for  sustaining  the  minimum  to 
two  against  it,  —  and  the  high  duty  thus  imposed  on 
cheap,  coarse  Cotton  Fabrics  enabled  our  few  cotton-mills 
to  ride  out  the  storm  that  quickly  followed  the  opening 
of  our  ports  to  British  Manufactures  at  generally  low 
duties  upon  the  proclamation  of  Peace.  While  most  of 
our  Manufactures  were  prostrated,  these  withstood  the 
convulsion,  and  our  production  of  cheap  Cottons  has 
ever  since  been  more  solidly,  uniformly  prosperous  than 
any  other,  and  the  relative  price  of  such  Fabrics  has 
long  been  lower  here  than  elsewhere  in  the  wide  world. 

I  might  quote  from  the  Messages  of  Governors  GEORGE 
CLINTON,  DANIEL  D.  TOMPKINS,  DE  WITT  CLINTON, 
SIMON  SNYDER,  and  many  others  of  like  eminence,  ur- 
gent recommendations  of  Protection  to  Manufactures  on 
grounds  substantially  identical  with  those  taken  above  ; 
but  need  I  ]  The  fact  that  they  commended  such  Protec- 
tion in  the  interest  of  American  Agriculture,  and  as  a 
means  of  enhancing  the  measure  of  its  recompense  while 
insuring  a  far  larger  and  steadier  demand  for  its  products, 
is  undenied  and  undeniable.  These  illustrious  patriots 
had  no  special  interest  in  Manufactures,  save  as  a  means 
of  promoting  and  securing  "  the  greatest  good  of  the 


VIEWS   OF   THE   FATHERS.  119 

greatest  number."  Not  for  the  sake  of  Manufactures 
primarily  or  mainly,  but  in  pursuance  of  what  they  pro- 
foundly believed  the  general  good,  did  they  uphold  and 
commend  the  policy  of  Protection. 

Names  are  nothing.  I  would  have  no  one  accept  a 
proposition  merely  because  Washington  or  Jefferson, 
Madison  or  Dallas,  did.  I  ask  attention,  not  to  the  fact 
that  these  held  as  I  do,  but  to  their  reasons  for  so  doing, 
—  their  grounds  for  believing  that  the  upbuilding  and 
diversification  of  Manufactures  among  us  were  essential 
to  the  prosperity  and  growth  of  our  Agriculture,  the 
just  recompense  of  our  Labor.  If  their  views  were 
crude  and  narrow,  selfish  and  perverse,  let  judgment  be 
rendered  accordingly  ;  but  first  consider  their  positions, 
weigh  their  arguments,  and  do  not  condemn  them  un- 
heard, merely  because  a  different  school  of  economists, 
with  admirable  self-complacency  and  modesty,  assure 
you  that  their  own  views  are  liberal,  enlightened,  philo- 
sophic, statesmanlike,  and  that  all  who  dissent  there- 
from are  inevitably  selfish,  shallow,  short-sighted,  and 
absurd. 


120  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 


IX. 

THE  STATE  —  ITS  LEGITIMATE  SPHERE  — 
POWERS  AND  DUTIES  — FREE  TRADE  AX- 
IOMS CONSIDERED. 

As  I  write,  the  proceedings  of  a  Free  Trade  meeting1 
in  Chicago  are  laid  before  me.  They  open  with  a  pre- 
amble and  resolves,  moved  by  Dr.  Ray,  whereof  the 
base  or  groundwork  is  the  following  proposition  :  — 

"  Whereas,  The  right  of  each  citizen  of  a  free  country  to 
have  and  to  hold  the  fruit  of  his  own  labor  at  the  control  of 
his  own  will ;  to  sell  the  same  where  he  chooses ;  to  take 
what  he  pleases  to  pay  therefor,  without  let  or  hindrance, 
save  in  the  way  of  just  taxes  to  maintain  law  and  order  in  the 
state,  is  as  clear  as  his  right  to  his  own  life,  and  may  not  be 
overridden  without  danger  to  all  his  other  rights." 

Here  it  is  clearly  affirmed  that  taxation  is  legitimate 
and  rightful  only  when  its  proceeds  are  devoted  to  a 
single  purpose,  —  "  to  maintain  law  and  order  in  the 
state."  Of  course,  taxation  to  pay  the  purchase-money 
for  Louisiana  was  usurping  and  fraudulent,  not  merely 
on  the  ground  affirmed  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  that  the  Fed- 
eral Constitution  did  not  warrant  any  such  expenditure, 
but  on  the  broader,  more  sweeping  assumption  that  no 
Constitution  could  warrant  it,  —  that  it  was  made  for  a 
purpose  wholly  foreign  to  the  legitimate  ends  of  govern- 
ment. 

Yet  Dr.  Ray,  I  cannot  doubt,  has  favored  the  ex- 
penditure of  large  sums  and  the  contracting  of  a  con- 

l  Jul7  18,  1889. 


THE  STATE  —  ITS   LEGITIMATE   SPHERE.        121 

siderable  debt,  by  Chicago  expressly  to  provide  her  peo- 
ple with  pure,  sweet  water,  —  a  purpose  which  he  de- 
clares wholly  without  the  legitimate  sphere  of  govern- 
ment. At  all  events,  /  very  heartily  voted,  thirty-six 
years  ago,  to  bring  the  Croton  water  into  our  city  at  a 
very  heavy  cost  to  her  tax-payers,  of  whom  I  was  not 
yet  one.  There  was  a  spirited  opposition,  especially  in 
the  poorest  quarters  of  the  city,  —  two  of  the  Wards 
mainly  inhabited  by  non-tax-payers  giving  majorities  in 
the  negative.  Yet,  at  least  two-thirds  of  all  who  voted 
at  all  voted  for  Water  ;  and  our  city  has  been  more 
attractive,  more  healthful,  less  liable  to  pestilence,  less 
filthy,  less  noisome,  and  every  way  more  fit  for  human 
habitation,  since  that  water  came  pouring  through  our 
streets  and  streaming  into  our  houses.  We  obtained  it 
by  voting  to  mortgage  and  tax  the  property  alike  of 
those  who  assented  and  those  who  protested,  —  by  de- 
cisively denying  and  overruling  the  alleged  "right  of  a 
free  citizen  to  have  and  to  hold  the  fruit  of  his  own 
labor  at  the  control  of  his  own  will."  I  cannot  doubt 
that  Dr.  Ray  has  done  the  same  in  at  least  a  hundred 
different  instances,  and  especially  with  regard  to  Com- 
mon Schools. 

But  I  offer  a  still  more  conspicuous  proof  of  the  futil- 
ity of  Dr.  Ray's  proposition  :  I  put  in  evidence  against 
him  the  City  of  New  York,  the  Commercial  Emporium 
of  the  New  World.  Men  carelessly  say  that  her  won- 
drous growth  and  unrivalled  predominance  are  the  re- 
sults of  her  great  natural  advantages  :  even  a  com- 
mercial dictionary1  lying  before  me  asserts  that  "  New 
York  is  indebted,  for  her  wonderful  increase,  to  her 
admirable  situation,  which  has  rendered  her  the  great- 
est emporium  of  the  New  World."  Yet  such  is  by  no 

1  A  Cyclopaedia  of  Commerce.    Edited  by  J.  Smith  Romans.    Har- 
per and  Brothers.    1858. 
6 


122  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

means  the  fact.  New  York  was  more  than  two  centu- 
ries old  before  she  could  be  deemed  the  commercial 
emporium  even  of  this  country.  Though  settled  more 
than  half  a  century  sooner,  New  York  was  long  second 
to  Philadelphia,  and  was  barely  abreast  of  her  down  to 
a  time  far  within  my  recollection.  The  population  of 
the  two  cities  under  each  Federal  Census  was,  respec- 
tively, as  follows :  — 

New  York.  Philadelphia. 

In  1790 29,906  45,250 

In  1800 60,489  70,287 

In  1810 96,373  96,287 

In  1820 120,376  119,325 

In  1830 202,589  167,325 

In  1840 312,852  258,037 

In  1850 515,547  408,762 

In  1860 813,668  ,  568,034 

But  other  American  seaports  long  disputed  the  palm 
with  New  York.  Goods  were  formerly  shipped  to 
Charleston,  S.  C.,  for  New  York ;  Newport  once  sur- 
passed her  in  the  amount  of  her  shipping  ;  Norfolk  long 
cherished  dreams  of  commercial  ascendency,  which  she 
is  just  reviving ;  while  the  sudden  upspringing  of  Bal- 
timore, consequent  on  the  rapid  settlement  of  western 
Virginia  and  eastern  Ohio,  and  her  natural  excellence  of 
position  as  the  point  at  which  the  tide-waters  of  the 
Atlantic  approached  most  nearly  the  valley  of  the  Ohio, 
render  it  probable  that,  in  the  absence  of  artificial  chan- 
nels for  transportation,  she  would  have  risen  to  the 
primacy  among  American  cities. 

But,  even  before  we  had  emerged  from  Colonial  de- 
pendence, agitation  for  an  artificial  water-way  between 
the  seaboard  and  the  West  had  commenced.  Indeed,  a 
rude  yet  practicable  passage-way  for  boats  between  the 
Mohawk  and  Wood  Creek,  and  thus  between  Schenec- 
tady  and  Lake  Ontario,  is  said  to  have  been  actually  ef- 


THE   STATE  —  ITS   LEGITIMATE   SPHERE.        123 

fected  so  early  as  1 768 ;  in  which  year  Governor  Sir  Henry 
Moore  recommended  to  the  Colonial  Assembly  of  New 
York  a  Canal  around  the  rapids  in  the  Mohawk  now 
known  as  Little  Falls.  Before  the  Revolution,  George 
Washington  in  Virginia  and  Christopher  Colles  of  this 
city  had  severally  pondered  and  agitated  the  means  of 
opening  a  water  communication  from  the  seaboard  to  the 
West;  and  hardly  had  peace  crowned  the  struggle  of 
our  fathers  for  Independence  when  Mr.  Colles,  in  suc- 
cessive memorials  to  our  State  Legislature,  and  Gen- 
eral Washington  (now  likewise  a  private  citizen),  were 
actively  at  work.  I  ask  special  attention  to  Washing- 
ton's own  simple  account1  of  his  action  in  the  premises, 
and  the  views  which  prompted  it  :  — 

"  I  have  lacely  [says  he]  made  a  tour  through  the  Lakes 
George  and  Champlain,  as  far  as  Crown  Point;  then,  return- 
ing to  Schenectady,  I  proceeded  up  the  Mohawk  River  to 
Fort  Schuyler,  crossed  over  to  Wood  Creek,  which  empties 
into  the  Oneida  Lake,  and  affords  the  water  communication 
with  Lake  Ontario ;  I  then  traversed  the  country  to  the  head 
of  the  eastern  branch  of  the  Susquehanna,  and  viewed  the 
Lake  Otsego,  and  the  portage  between  that  lake  and  the 
Mohawk  River  at  Canajoharie.  Prompted  by  these  actual 
observations,  I  could  not  help  taking  a  more  contemplative 
and  extensive  view  of  the  vast  inland  navigation  of  the 
United  States,  and  could  not  but  be  struck  with  the  immense 
diffusion  and  importance  of  it,  and  with  the  goodness  of  that 
Providence  who  has  dealt  His  favors  to  us  with  so  profuse  a 
hand.  Would  to  God  we  may  have  wisdom  enough  to  IMPROVE 
them." 

Washington,  it  is  clear,  was  not  a.  Free-Trader.  He 
did  not  believe,  with  Dr.  Ray,  that  the  sole  legitimate 
end  of  government  is  "to  maintain  law  and  order,"  and 
that  to  tax  for  any  other  purpose  is  to  outrage  "the  right 
of  each  citizen  of  a  free  country  to  have  and  to  hold  the 

i  Letter  to  the  Marquis  of  Chastellux,  1784. 


124  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

fruit  of  his  own  labor  at  the  control  of  his  own  will." 
After  taking,  in  the  Autumn  of  that  year,  another  tour 
up  the  Potomac,  and  so  far  westward  as  Pittsburg,  ex- 
amining the  natural  facilities  for  cutting  a  Canal  by  that 
route  to  connect  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  with  those 
of  the  Ohio,  he  wrote  to  Governor  Harrison  of  Virginia, 
urging  the  importance  of  early  and  decided  steps  to 
achieve  such  communication.  He  sought  to  interest 
Maryland  also  in  the  work,  and  urged  the  moral  certain- 
ty that  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  would  soon  strike 
out  vigorously  to  secure,  each  for  herself,  a  control  of  the 
trade  of  the  rapidly  growing  West ;  adding,  with  char- 
acteristic breadth  of  vision  :  — 

"  I  am  not  for  discouraging  the  exertions  of  any  State  to 
draw  the  commerce  of  the  Western  country  to  its  seaports. 
The  more  communications  we  open  to  it,  the  closer  we  find 
that  rising  world  (for,  indeed,  it  may  be  so  called)  to  our  in- 
terests, and  the  greater  strength  we  shall  secure  by  it.  Those 
to  whom  Nature  affords  the  best  communications  will,  if  they 
are  ivise,  enjoy  the  greatest  share  of  the  trade.  All  I  would 
be  understood  to  mean,  therefore,  is,  that  the  gifts  of  Provi- 
dence may  not  be  neglected." 

Will  any  say  that  Washington  expected  private  indi- 
viduals, in  our  then  infantile  and  impoverished  condition, 
to  furnish  the  means  and  take  the  risk  of  cutting  canals 
(then  scarcely  known  out  of  China)  through  the  wooded 
mountains  which  separated  the  settled  portions  of  our 
seaboard  States  from  the  lakes  and  navigable  rivers  of 
the  North  and  West  1  Hear  how  he  urges  on  Governor 
Harrison  the  grave  political  reasons  for  effecting  such 
communications  :  — 

"  I  need  not  remark  to  you,  Sir,  that  the  flanks  and  rear  of 
the  United  States  are  possessed  by  other  powers  —  and  for- 
midable ones  too  —  [Great  Britain  and  Spain] ;  nor  need  I 
press  the  necessity  of  applying  the  cement  of  interest  to  bind 
all  parts  of  the  Union  together  by  indissoluble  bonds,  —  es- 


THE   STATE  —  ITS   POWERS   AND   DUTIES.        125 

pecially  of  binding  that  part  of  it  which  lies  immediately  west 
of  us  to  the  Middle  States." 

Mr.  Colles  again  petitioned  our  Legislature  on  this  sub- 
ject in  1786,  and  was  backed  by  others  of  greater  promi- 
nence and  influence.  Yet  it  was  not  till  1791  that  "  The 
Western  Inland  Lock  and  Navigation  Company"  was 
chartered,  whereby  a  canal  with  five  locks  around  the 
"  Little  Falls"  of  the  Mohawk  was  constructed  in  the 
course  of  the  ensuing  six  or  seven  years,  with  another  at 
the  German  Flats,  and  another  connecting  Wood  Creek 
with  the  Mohawk,  —  in  all,  seven  miles  of  Canal,  with 
nine  wooden  locks.  The  whole  cost  $  400,000,  and  were 
not  worth  even  that  sum ;  for  the  facilities  for  naviga- 
tion thereby  afforded  were  so  meagre  and  imperfect  that 
so  little  commerce  was  attracted  to  this  route  that  it 
never  paid  expenses.  In  fact,  it  was  morally  impossible 
that  any  adequate  and  attractive  channel  of  transporta- 
tion should  be  created  otherwise  than  by  employing  the 
resources  and  credit  of  the  State. 

Here  New  York  paused,  as  if  amazed  at  her  own 
temerity,  —  our  State  then  containing  scarcely  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  million  ^inhabitants,  hardly  five 
thousand  of  whom  lived  westward  of  Utica,  —  and  gave 
Pennsylvania,  with  her  vastly  superior  wealth  and  popu- 
lation, ample  opportunity  to  secure  for  herself  the  proud 
position  of  Empire  State,  and  for  her  chief  city  the  en- 
during character  and  prestige  of  Emporium  of  American 
Commerce.  Ignorance  or  heedlessness  can  hardly  ex- 
cuse her  failure  ;  for,  so  early  as  1796,  Robert  Fulton, 
then  in  Europe,  wrote  to  her  Governor  (Thomas  Mifflin), 
urging  her  to  open  a  water  transit  through  her  territory 
from  the  seaboard  to  the  Lakes,  and  adding  :  — 

"  I  hope  I  shall  see  the  time  when  canals  shall  pass  through 
every  vale,  wind  around  each  hill,  and  bind  the  whole  coun- 
try together  in  bonds  of  social  intercourse." 


126  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

He  was  too  sanguine,  as  great  men  are  apt  to  be.  He 
did  not  live  even  to  see  the  Erie  Canal  commenced.  But 
he  did  live  to  see  its  construction  directed  and  assumed 
by  the  State,1  after  years  of  preparatory  discussion,  sur- 
veying, and  estimating,  and  to  be  himself  chosen  one  of 
the  Commissioners  to  direct  the  great  enterprise  ;  but 
War  with  Great  Britain  intervened  to  postpone  its  actual 
commencement,  so  that  his  decease 2  preceded,  by  more 
than  two  years,  the  actual  breaking  ground  ;  3  from  which 
date  eight  years  .were  required  to  complete  the  narrow 
and  shallow  water-ways  which  first  connected  the  navi- 
gable waters  of  the  Hudson  with  those  of  Lakes  Cham- 
plain,  Ontario,  and  Erie.  The  cost  of  those  rudimentary 
canals  was  about  Seven  Millions  of  Dollars ;  and  there 
are  this  day  One  Thousand  Millions'  worth  of  prop- 
erty in  this  City  and  State,  and  thrice  that  amount  in 
the  Union,  more  than  there  would  have  been  had  that 
work  been  postponed  for  even  so  short  a  term  as  twenty 
years. 

Yet  it  evinced  far  greater  courage  in  our  State  to  un- 
dertake it  in  1811  than  for  the  Union,  half  a  century 
later,  to  resolve  that  it  would  have  a  Railroad  from  the 
Missouri  to  the  Pacific. 

The  commercial  ascendency,  and  consequent  rapid 
growth  in  business,  industry,  and  wealth,  of  the  City  of 
New  York,  are  direct  and  manifest  results  of  the  resolu- 
tion of  the  State,  under  the  lead  of  De  Witt  Clinton, 
to  construct,  on  her  own  responsibility  and  credit,  the 
Erie  and  Champlain  Canals.  This  resolution  was  main- 
tained in  the  face  of  a  formidable  and  vehement  oppo- 
sition, generally  upheld  by  the  very  City  which  those 
Canals  were  to  aggrandize  beyond  the  wildest  dreams  of 
enthusiasts  or  of  speculators  in  corner-lots.  The  Canal 

l  April  8, 1811.  3  At  Rome,  Oneida  Co.,  July  4, 1817. 

8  February  14,  1815. 


THE  STATE  —  ITS  POWERS   AND  DUTIES.        127 

policy  was  maintained  by  the  strong  arms  of  our  Western 
pioneers  and  small  farmers,  mainly  Yankees,  then  grow- 
ing Wheat  in  the  rich  valleys  of  the  Genesee  and  Tioga  at 
twenty-five  to  fifty  cents  per  bushel,  and  intent  on  having 
a  cheaper  outlet  to  the  seaboard.1  They  reflected  De 
Witt  Clinton  Governor,  in  1820,  when  his  defeat  was 
deemed  inevitable,  and  when  the  politicians  and  journals 
of  the  lower  end  of  the  State  were  almost  a  unit  against 
him,  and  when  the  cry  "  Fill  up  the  ditch  !  "  was  popular 
in  the  bar-rooms  and  around  the  polls  of  the  Southern 
District.  The  City  of  New  York  owes  her  present  proud 
position  to  the  fact  that  those  Western  farmers  had  not 
studied  political  economy  in  the  school  of  negation  and 
obstruction,  whereof  Dr.  Ray  is  a  graduate  and  apostle. 

But  opposition  to  the  Canal  policy  was  not  confined 
to  the  region  below  the  Highlands,  though  there  it  was 
most  rampant.  Men  who  reasoned  as  Dr.  Ray  and 
other  Free-Traders  now  do,  were  heard  in  every  county. 
A  respectable  Dutch  farmer,  owning  and  enjoying  a 
goodly  estate  on  the  Mohawk  flats,  above  Schenectady, 
hung  himself  when  he  found  it  impossible  to  prevent  the 
cutting  of  the  hated  ditch  right  through  his  rich  mead- 
ows. Even  so  late  as  1827,  I  heard  an  innkeeper  of  fair 
natural  powers  in  Chautauqua  County  denouncing  the 

1  Hon.  Jabez  D.  Hammond,  in  his  cautious  and  able  "  History  of 
Political  Parties  in  the  State  of  New  York,"  thus  characterizes  the 
delegation  from  this  City  to  the  Legislature  of  1818,  whereof  he  was  a 
member:  — 

"  The  members  of  Assembly  from  the  City  of  New  York  were  all 
from  the  hot-bed  of  Tammany  Hall.  All  of  them,  with  the  single  ex- 
ception of  Cadwallader  D.  Golden,  were  open  and  bitter  in  their  denun- 
ciations of  the  Governor  [De  Witt  Clinton],  and  the  system  of  internal 
improvements,  at  the  head  of  which  he  stood,  and  with  which  he'was 
identified.  They  predicted  with  confidence  the  entire  failure  of  the 
system,  and  thence  the  serious  embarrassment  and  disgrace,  if  not  the 
ruin,  of  the  State.  They  claimed  that  the  reputation  of  Mr.  Clinton 
was  staked  on  the  fate  of  this  system,  and  they  professed  their  entire 
willingness  to  abide  the  result." 


128  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

Erie  Canal  as  an  unmitigated  curse  to  Western  New 
York.  Nearly  twenty  years  later,  the  able  and  eminent 
Colonel  Samuel  Young,  in  a  report  to  the  Senate,  pro- 
nounced the  "  songs  of  internal  improvement  "  "  libels 
on  the  laws  of  God."  The  Canal  policy  of  New  York 
was  fought  as  recklessly  as  the  Protective  policy  now  is, 
upon  the  same  fundamental  assumptions  and  by  essen- 
tially identical  arguments.  It  was  stigmatized  as  a 
device  of  the  speculating,  grasping  few,  to  enrich  them- 
selves at  the  expense  of  the  simple,  plodding,  credulous 
many,  by  means  wholly  foreign  to  the  legitimate  sphere 
of  government.  And,  if  the  premises  above  laid  down 
by  Dr.  Ray  are  sound,  they  were  clearly  right.  If  he 
knows  as  much  of  Political  Economy  as  one  should  do 
who  assumes  to  teach  it,  then  a  State  has  not,  and  never 
had,  any  right  to  make  canals.  If  his  fundamental  as- 
sumption is  sound,  then  the  Erie  Canal  is  the  result  of 
a  blundering  usurpation,  and  New  York  has  no  business 
to  be  the  Commercial  Emporium,  seeing  that  she  became 
so  by  reason  of  our  State's  flagrant  defiance  of  the  nat- 
ural, inalienable  Rights  of  Man. 

I  proceed  to  consider  a  moderate  and  plausible  affirm- 
ative averment  of  the  doctrine  which,  in  its  negative 
application,  Dr.  Ray  seems  to  me  to  have  overstrained 
and  run  into  the  ground.  I  quote  it  from  Adam  Smith,1 
as  follows  : — 

"  Every  individual  is  continually  exerting  himself  to  find 
out  the  most  advantageous  employment  for  Avhatever  capital  he 
can.  command.  It  is  his  own  advantage,  indeed,  and  not  that 
of  the  society,  that  he  has  in  view,  —  but  the  study  of  his  own 
advantage  naturally,  or  rather  necessarily,  leads  him  to  prefer 
that  employment  which  is  most  advantageous  to  the  society." 

This  is  the  true  and  necessary  corner-stone  of  the 
i  Wealth  of  Nations,  Book  IV.  Ch.  III. 


FREE  TRADE   AXIOMS   CONSIDERED.  129 

Free  Trade  structure.  I  cannot  accept  it.  It  ignores 
the  most  vital  distinctions,  and  makes  him  who  amasses 
most  wealth  the  most  useful  citizen,  contrary  to  every 
man's  experience  and  moral  perceptions.  Here  are 
four  brothers,  who  set  out  resolved  to  make  their  way 
in  the  world  ;  one  of  them  patiently  hewing  a  farm 
out  of  the  Western  wilderness,  the  second  establishing 
a  plough-factory,  the  third  opening  a  grog-shop,  and  the 
fourth  a  gaming-house,  and  each  living  by  and  prospering 
in  his  vocation.  Suppose  that,  as  the  fruit  of  thirty  years' 
effort,  the  rumseller  has  made  $  100,000,  and  the  black- 
leg $  200,000,  while  the  farmer  is  worth  but  $  10,000, 
and  the  plough-maker  $  20,000,  does  it  follow  that 
the  former  have  been  the  better  citizens,  or  that  their 
manner  of  life  is  justified  by  their  thrift1?  Each  has 
"  studied  his  own  advantage,"  —  has  followed  that  pur- 
suit to  which  he  was  attracted, — and  his  choice  has  been 
crowned  with  the  success  to  which  he  aspired ;  and,  if 
"  the  study  of  his  own  advantage  naturally,  or  rather 
necessarily,  leads  him  to  prefer  that  employment  which 
is  most  advantageous  to  the  society,"  (community,)  why, 
then,  the  blackleg  is  the  most  meritorious  of  the  four, 
and  has  done  more  good  than  all  the  rest.  I  reject  and 
repel  the  philosophy  which  leads  to  such  revolting  con- 
clusions. I  insist  that  the  value  to  the  community  of  a 
man's  efforts  is  not  indicated  or  measured  by  the  amount 
of  his  resulting  gains,  —  that  one  may  enrich  himself  in 
a  pursuit  or  calling  which  impoverishes  and  curses  his 
neighbors  and  countrymen.  In  short,  I  consider  the 
Free  Trade  premise  fallacious,  pestilent,  and  utterly  mis- 
taken. 

A  later  and  more  skilful  presentment  of  the  Free 
Trade  theory  is  contained  in  the  celebrated  Petition  to 
Parliament  of  the  Merchants  and  Traders  of  the  City 

6*  I 


130  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

of  London,  which  Mr.  Huskisson  deemed  so  conclusive. 
I  will  here  quote  its  more  essential  propositions :  — 

"  That  foreign  commerce  is  eminently  conducive  to  the 
wealth  and  prosperity  of  the  country,  by  enabling  it  to  im- 
port the  commodities  for  the  production  of  which  the  soil, 
climate,  capital,  and  industry  of  other  countries  are  best  cal- 
culated, and  to  export  in  payment  those  articles  for  which  its 
own  situation  is  better  adapted ; 

"  That  freedom  from  restraint  is  calculated  to  give  the  ut- 
most extension  to  foreign  trade,  and  the  best  direction  to  the 
capital  and  industry  of  the  country ; 

"  That  the  prevailing  prejudices  in  favor  of  the  Protective 
or  restrictive  system  may  be  traced  to  the  erroneous  supposi- 
tion that  every  importation  of  foreign  commodities  occasions 
a  diminution  or  discouragement  of  our  own  productions  to 
the  same  extent ;  whereas,  it  may  be  clearly  shown  that,  al- 
though the  particular  description  of  production  that  could 
not  stand  against  the  unrestrained  foreign  competition  would 
be  discouraged,  yet,  as  no  importation  could  be  continued  for 
any  length  of  time  without  a  corresponding  exportation, 
direct  or  indirect,  there  would  be  an  encouragement,  for  the 
purpose  of  that  exportation,  of  some  other  production,  to 
which  our  situation  might  be  better  suited ;  thus  affording  at 
least  an  equal,  and  probably  a  greater,  and  certainly  a  more 
beneficial,  employment  to  our  own  capital  and  labor." 

I  have  quoted  this  petition  as  the  clearest,  tersest, 
fairest,  most  forcible,  exposition  of  the  Free  Trade  doc- 
trine within  my  knowledge.  If  there  is  a  better  or  more 
cogent,  I  will  thank  any  Free-Trader  except  its  author 
to  point  it  out  to  me.  I  ask  for  this  the  consideration 
to  which  its  ability,  frankness,  and  calmness  so  clearly 
entitle  it.  Let  the  reader  ponder  along  with  it  these 
brief  comments  :  — 

I.  Its  fundamental  assumption  clearly  involves  the 
dictum  of  Adam  Smith  above  quoted,  that  every  man, 
if  left  to  do  what  he  deems  most  advantageous  to  himself, 
will  do  what  is  best  for  the  community.  Unhappily,  our 


FREE   TRADE   AXIOMS   CONSIDERED.  131 

courts,  sheriffs,  police,  prisons,  gibbets,  are  standing 
proofs  that  this  cannot  be  relied  on.  Nor  would  the 
Erie  Canal  have  been  seasonably  constructed,  if  ever, 
had  every  one  been  left  at  liberty  to  contribute  or  not,  as 
he  deemed  most  conducive  to  his  personal  interest,  and 
to  sell  the  right  of  carrying  it  across  his  land  at  such 
price  as  he  should  see  fit  to  demand. 

II.  It  is  further  assumed  that,  if  there  be  no  restric- 
tion on  trade,  we  shall  import  only  those  commodities 
which  the  soil,  climate,  &c.,  of  other  nations  enable  them 
to  produce  more  advantageously  than  we  can.     Abun- 
dant experience  has  demonstrated  that  we  do  and  will 
extensively  import  many  commodities  for  the  production 
of  which  no  other  country  has  greater  natural  advantages 
than  our  own.     We  have  repeatedly  imported  a  large 
share  of  our  Breadstuffs ;  we  habitually  import  largely 
of  the  Fabrics  in  which  we  are  clothed,  as  well  as  Wool, 
Iron,  Wines,  &c.,  &c.,  for  the  production  of  which  we 
are  as  favorably  situated  as  any  people  on  earth.  That  we 
ought  to  import  a  certain  article  is  no  more  proved  by 
the  fact  that  we  do  import  it  than  the  rightfulness  of 
many  other  practices  is  proved  by  our  addiction  to  them. 

III.  While  it  is  very  true  that  those  from  whom  we 
buy  abroad  expect  an  equivalent   for  their  wares,  and 
generally  obtain   it,  it   by  no   means   follows  that   we 
thence   secure  "at   least  an  equal,  probably  a  greater, 
and  certainly  a  more  beneficial,  employment  to  our  own 
capital   and   labor."     Throughout   the   last   five  or  six 
years,  we  have  been  buying  very  largely  of  European 
Metals,  Wares,  and  Fabrics,  paying  therefor  in  Cotton, 
Wheat,  Cheese,  Bacon,  Lard,  &c.,  so  far  as  these  would 
go,  and  eking  out  a  heavy  deficiency  by  sending  over 
ream  after  ream  of  the  bonds  of  our  Government  to 
"comble  the  deficit."     These   bonds,  having  fifteen  or 
twenty  years  to  run,  drawing  six  per  cent,  interest,  and 


132  POLITICAL   ECONOMY. 

payable  in  coin,  we  have  sold  at  fifteen  to  fifty  per  cent, 
discount  from  their  face,  and  thereby  squared  our  ac- 
counts from  time  to  time,  until  it  is  now  understood  that 
Europe  holds  them  to  the  extent  of  at  least  Nine  Hun- 
dred Millions  of  Dollars,  not  to  speak  of  our  State  bonds, 
Railroad  bonds,  &c.,  &c.,  to  the  amount,  probably,  of 
Five  Hundred  Millions  more.  The  individuals  who  re- 
mitted these  bonds,  or  exchange  drawn  by  bankers 
against  them,  in  payment  for  the  goods  we  have  eaten, 
drank,  or  worn  out,  may  have  made  a  profit  on  each 
transaction,  —  may  very  probably  have  grown  rich  by 
these  dealings  ;  but  I  cannot  doubt  that  our  country  has 
been  impoverished  by  them,  —  has  enjoyed  present  luxury 
and  ease  at  the  cost  of  future  hardship  and  embarrass- 
ment,— has  played  the  part  of  prodigal  to  that  of  usurer 
enacted  by  "Europe,  —  and  is  bound  to  sweat  and  toil 
through  many  future  years  to  retrieve  the  fortunes  shat- 
tered by  this  brief  season  of  reckless,  short-sighted 
prodigality.  I  hold  it  proved  by  this  ready  example 
that  a  nation  which  increases  lavishly  her  imports  does 
not  (as  the  London  Petition  asserts)  secure  thereby  "  a 
more  beneficial  employment  for  her  own  capital  and 
labor,"  but,  on  the  contrary,  may  thereby  doom  herself 
to  a  cycle  of  depression,  calamity,  and  unavailing  sor- 
row. 


PROTECTION   FOB  AGRICULTURE.  133 


X. 

PROTECTION  FOR  AGRICULTURE. 

I  HAVE  hitherto  sought  to  demonstrate  that  the 
founders  of  this  Republic  —  themselves  either  farmers 
by  vocation  or  the  representatives  of  farmers  mainly  — 
deliberately  and  thoughtfully  determined  to  protect  and 
develop  Home  Manufactures,  and  that  they  did  this  in 
the  conviction  that  they  thereby  promoted  the  interest 
and  enhanced  the  gains  of  American  Agriculture.  If 
any  one  chooses  to  pronounce  them  idiots,  I  shall  not 
here  contest  the  assumption ;  but  the  hypothesis  of 
their  ignorance  of  the  vital  matter  in  dispute  is  at  war 
with  facts  mountainous  and  incontrovertible.  Free 
Trade  had  always  a  strong  party  in  Congress ;  its  dog- 
mas and  its  arguments  were  essentially  as  now ;  and 
they  have  no  living  champion  able  to  present  them  more 
forcibly  than  Mr.  Webster  did  in  his  speech  of  1824, 
when  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke  led  the  anti-Protec- 
tionists of  the  South x  as  intrepidly  as  Mr.  Webster  did 

1  Hezekiah  Niles,  in  his  Weekly  Register  of  May  1, 1824,  thus  out- 
lines the  division  by  sections  and  interests  that  then  pervaded  the 
Union :  — 

"  The  people  of  the  Middle  and  Western  States  are  anxious  for  the 
establishment  of  domestic  manufactures,  that  they  may  have  a  home 
market  for  their  agricultural  products ;  and  those  of  the  South  and  South- 
west are  opposed  to  such  establishment,  because  they  apprehend  it 
will  reduce  the  demand  of  the  foreign  market,  and  so  injure  their 
agriculture.  The  people  of  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  and  Massachusetts, 
are  against  a  Protective  Tariff,  because  it  may  interfere  with  a  pro- 
tected navigation  ;  and  the  small  States  of  Rhode  Island  and  Connecti- 
cut are  for  it,  for  the  reason  that  it  will  encourage,  if  it  shall  not  in- 
crease, the  products  of  their  industry." 


134 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 


those  of  the  North,  —  but  in  vain.  The  Middle  States,3 
from  New  York  to  Kentucky  inclusive,  declared  for  Pro- 
tection, upon  the  grounds  so  forcibly  set  forth  in  General 
Jackson's  letter  (already  quoted)  of  that  year  to  Dr. 
Coleman  of  Virginia.  Those  States,  —  still  almost  ex- 
clusively Agricultural  —  decided  that  to  "  plant  the 
manufacturer  by  the  side  of  the  farmer  "  was  (in  Gen- 
eral Jackson's  words)  the  true  and  sure  way  to  increase 
the  recompense  of  the  husbandman's  toil  —  that,  even 
though  his  Metals,  his  Implements,  his  Wares,  his 
Fabrics,  should  cost  him  more  money  than  under  Free 
Trade,  he  would  nevertheless  pay  for  them  with  less 
Produce  or  Labor  ;  which  was  to  him  the  controlling  con- 
sideration. Such  was  their  conclusion,  after  listening  for 
years  to  arguments,  pro  and  con,  from  statesmen  at 
least  as  able  as  their  successors  now  living.  I,  though  a 
child  in  the  early  stages  of  their  controversy,  was  an 
eager  and  omnivorous  reader  of  those  discussions ;  my 
judgment  thereon  was  held  in  abeyance  until  after 
years  of  dispassionate  inquiry  and  consideration ;  it  ulti- 
mately inclined  to  the  conclusions  of  Hezekiah  Niles, 

2  The  Tariff  of  1824  was  levied  avowedly  and  exclusively  with  a 
view  to  additional  Protection.  It  passed  the  House  (only  two  members 
absent)  by  107  Yeas  to  102  Nays,  divided  locally  as  follows :  — 


For  the 

Ag't 

For  the 

Ag't 

bill. 

it. 

bill. 

it. 

Maine, 

1 

6 

Maryland, 

.    3 

6 

Massachusetts, 

.    1 

11 

Virginia,    . 

1 

21 

New  Hampshire, 

1 

5 

North  Carolina, 

.  — 

13 

Rhode  Island, 

.    2 

— 

South  Carolina, 

— 

9 

Connecticut, 

5 

1 

Georgia, 

.  — 

7 

Vermont, 

.    5 

— 

Tennessee, 

2 

7 

New  York, 

.      26 

8 

Mississippi,    . 

.  — 

1 

New  Jersey,   . 

.    6 

_ 

Alabama,   . 

— 

3 

Pennsylvania,    . 

.      24 

1 

Louisiania,     . 

.  — 

3 

Delaware, 

.    1 

— 

Missouri,    . 

1 

— 

Ohio, 

.      14 

— 

Indiana, 

.    2 

— 

Kentucky, 

.11 

— 

Illinois, 

1 

— 

PROTECTION  FOR   AGRICULTURE.  135 

Henry  Clay,  and  Rollin  C.  Mallary ; l  and  the  convic- 
tions then  deliberately  attained  have  since  remained  un- 
clouded and  unshaken. 

If  controversy  is  to  be  prosecuted  with  a  sincere  pur- 
pose of  arriving  at  a  common  and  just  conclusion,  the 
disputants  must  grapple  with  and  try  to  comprehend 
each  other's  positions.  I  seek,  then,  the  latest  authen- 
tic exposition  of  the  Free  Trade  view  of  the  point  I  am 
considering,  and  find  it  a  synopsis  of  D£  Francis  Lie- 
ber's  recent  lectures  on  "  Protectionist  Fallacies,"  as 
Professor  of  Political  Economy  in  Columbia  College. 
In  his  summary  report  thereof  for  The  Evening  Post  he 
comes  at  length  to  what  he  terms  the  Pauper-Labor 
argument,  and  I  read  as  follows  :  — 

"It  is  mere  fallacy;  and  possibly  no  [other]  argument  of 
our  Protectionists  is  so  fallacious  as  this,  their  most  popular, 
because  most  insinuating,  argument.  The  errors  and  incon- 
sistencies involved  in  it  are  so  numerous  that  little  more 
can  be  done  here  than  barely  to  enumerate  them. 

"  All  that  is  meant  by  American  labor  in  this  case  is  the 
manufacturing  labor  and  that  of  the  artisans,  —  the  workmen, 
as  they  are  styled.  But  is  the  farmer  not  a  workman? 
There  are  far  more  laborers  engaged  in  farming  than  in  manu- 
facturing and  handicrafts,  —  I  believe  twice  as  many.  All 
these  citizens  of  our  republic  are  left  unprotected  against  the 
protected  workmen;  for  the  farmer  has  to  pay  a  higher 
price  ;  that  is  to  say,  he  must  work  several  days  more  for  what 
he  stands  in  need  of  than  he  would  had  not  our  Legislature 
privileged  a  particular  class  called  workmen.  The  farmer  cannot 
spend  the  product  of  so  many  days'  labor  —  of  which  he  is 
robbed  for  the  supposed  benefit  of  another  class  —  for  better 
schooling  or  more  respectable  dresses  for  his  children,  more 
comforts  for  his  wife,  more  books  for  himself,  or  the  improve- 
ment of  his  farm." 

1  Among  those  who  sustained  these  conclusions  by  their  votes  as 
Senators,  in  passing  the  Tariff  of  1824.  were  Andrew  Jackson  and 
John  H.  Eaton  of  Tennessee,  Martin  Van  Buren  of  New  York,  and 
Thomas  H.  Benton  of  Missouri. 


136  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

Dr.  Lieber  here  quietly  assumes  the  vital  matter 
in  issue,  —  namely,  that  the  farmer  "  must  work  several 
days  more  for  what  he  stands  in  need  of,"  under  Protec- 
tion than  under  Free  Trade.  I  will  not  doubt  that  such 
is  his  opinion,  which  he  has  a  perfect  right  to  propound 
and  uphold  as  such  ;  but  I  know  nothing  in  his  position 
or  achievements  which  entitles  that  opinion  to  pass  un- 
challenged when  such  respectable  authorities  as  Napo- 
leon I.,  Henry  jClay,  Walter  Forward,  A.  Alison,  Thiers, 
Daniel  Webster  (from  and  after  1828),  Henry  C.  Carey, 
&c.,  &c.,  are  arrayed  against  him.  I  hold,  with  them, 
that  the  Professor  is  mistaken,  —  that  the  farmer  is  not 
"  robbed "  by  Protection,  even  though  Manufactures 
only  were  thereby  subjected  to  duty  (which  is  by  no 
means  the  case),  —  that  he  is  not  thereby  required  to 
work  "  several  days  more  "  for  the  wares  and  fabrics  he 
buys,  but  the  contrary.  It  seems  to  me  self-evident 
that  Protection  tends  to  shorten  the  distance  between 
the  farmer  and  the  artisan  or  manufacturer,  hence  to 
diminish  the  cost  of  exchanging  their  respective  pro- 
ducts, and  thus  to  secure  to  the  farmer,  not  only  surer 
and  steadier  markets  for  his  produce,  but  an  ampler 
recompense  for  his  labor.  Such  are  the  conclusions 
that  long  ago  made  me  a  Protectionist.  Neither  Pro- 
fessor Lieber  nor  any  of  his  school  have  even  tried  to 
convince  me  that  I  am  in  error.  They  dogmatically 
assume,  1.  That  1iome-made  Wares  and  Fabrics  must 
cost  more  money  than  their  imported  rivals,  —  which  is 
probable,  though  not  always  the  case ;  and  2.  That,  if 
they  cost  more  money,  they  must  cost  the  farmer 
more  of  his  produce  or  labor,  which  is  quite  another 
matter,  and  which  I  most  confidently  deny.  I  hold 
that  the  Metals,  Wares,  and  Fabrics,  required  and 
bought  by  our  farmers,  would  cost  them  very  much  more 
of  their  produce  if,  in  the  absence  of  Protection,  we  ob- 


PROTECTION   FOR   AGRICULTURE.  137 

tained  them  almost  wholly  from  abroad.     As  this  is  the 
vital  point,  let  me  elucidate  it  more  fully  :  — 

I.  Distant  markets  are  all  but  inevitably  inconstant, 
uncertain  markets.     Europe  has  deficient  harvests  one 
year,  and  buys  Grain  of  us  quite  freely ;  but  next  year 
her  harvests  are  bounteous,  and  she  requires  very  little 
more  food  than  she  produces,  no  matter  how  freely  we 
may  be  buying  of  her  fabrics.     Hence,  our  Wheat  now 
sells  very  far  below  the  prices  which  ruled  here  when 
Europe  had  a  meagre  harvest. 

II.  A  heavy  export  of  Wheat  and  other  cereals  is  a 
virtual  exportation  of  certain  of  the  best  elements  of 
our  soil.     It    must  and  will  gradually  impoverish  the 
best  soils,  and  soon  exhaust  those  of  medium  or  lower 
capacity.     Thus,  the  average  product  of  Wheat  in  this 
country  has  fallen  in  the  course  of  the  last  sixty  years 
from  twenty-five  to  twelve  bushels  per  acre,  while  that 
of  Great  Britain  has  risen  in  like  proportion.     She  has 
drawn  away  from  us  much  of -the  best  elements  of  our 
soil,  and  applied  this  in  good  part  to  the  improvement 
of  her  own.     Sixty  years  ago,  Eastern  New  York  was  a 
wheat-growing  region ;  forty  years   ago,  that   industry 
had  moved  westward   to   the   "  Holland  Purchase,"  or 
Genesee   country ;   that,    too,    in   turn   gave   out,    and 
wheat-growing  took  flight   to    Michigan,  Illinois,   Iowa, 
AVisconsin,  Minnesota ;  these  will  in  turn  be  exhausted, 
if  crop  after  crop  of  Wheat  or  Corn  is  grown  and  shipped 
off,    returning   little    or   nothing   to  the   soil.     Skilful, 
scientific  husbandry  dictates  that  more  shall  annually  be 
given  to  the   soil  than  is  taken  therefrom ;  but  this  is 
impracticable  where  crops  so  exhaustive  as  the  cereals 
are  grown  mainly  for  exportation  and  shipped  away  to 
be  consumed  on  another  continent.1 

1  Mr.  George  E.  Waring,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  Geographical 
Society  of  this  city,  says  :  — 
"  In  my  opinion,  it  would  be  improper  to  estimate  the  total  annual 


138  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

III.  A  remote  market  virtually  restricts  the  farmer  to 
two  or  three  great  staples ;  while  near  markets  enable 
him  to  diversify  his  products,   and  thus  maintain  and 
increase  the  productive  capacity  of  his  soil. 

IV.  I  will  illustrate  my  general  view  of  the  influence 
of  Protection,  as  it  affects  the  Farming  interest,  by  a 
familiar  example  :  — 

The  old  Scotch-Irish  settlement  of  Londonderry,  N. 
H.,  is  now  divided  into  four  townships,  all  devoted  to 
Agriculture,  as  they  have  been  since  first  settled  by 
White  men  a  century  and  a  half  ago.  With  our  factories 
and  workshops  still  in  Europe,  her  farmers  must  pay 
for  their  Fabrics  mainly  with  Grain  and  Meat,  sold  at 
somewhat  less  than  their  present  (gold)  prices.  But 
Protection  has  built  up  four  great  manufacturing  cen- 
tres —  Lowell,  Nashua,  Manchester,  and  Lawrence  —  on 
three  sides  of  old  Londonderry,  and  but  five  to  fifteen 
miles  away  ;  and  her  farmers  supply  these  with  Fuel, 
Timber,  Milk,  Apples,  Hay,  &c.,  at  prices  which  give 
them  more  than  double  the  return  they  could  realize 
with  our  workshops  still  in  Europe.  They  sell  thousands 
of  cords  of  Wood  for  three  to  five  times  as  much  as  it 
would  be  worth  (uncut)  but  for  the  proximity  of  manu- 
factures. And  their  advantage  is  being  steadily  diffused, 
by  the  springing  up  of  one  or  another  species  of  manu- 
facture, all  over  the  country,  —  in  the  South  and  West 
more  rapidly  of  late  than  in  the  North  and  East. 

Most  certainly  do  I  believe  that  the  prices  of  Home 
Manufactures  (estimated  in  Labor  or  in  Farm  Products) 

waste  of  the  country  at  less  than  equal  to  the  mineral  constituents  of 
Jlfteen  hundred  million  bushels  of  corn.  To  suppose  this  can  continue, 
and  we  can  remain  prosperous,  is  simply  ridiculous.  As  yet,  we  have 
much  virgin  soil,  and  it  will  be  long  ere  we  reap  the  full  fruits  of  our 
improvidence;  but  it  is  merely  a  question  of  time.  With  our  earth- 
butchery  and  prodigality,  we  are  each  year  losing  the  intrinsic  essence 
of  our  vitality." 


PROTECTION   FOR   AGRICULTURE.  ,139. 

tend  steadily  downward,  —  that  a  hundred  bushels  of 
Wheat  or  Corn,  a  ton  of  Beef  or  Pork,  a  load  of  Apples 
or  of  Potatoes,  will  buy  far  more  Iron,  or  Cloth,  or 
Hardware,  in  1869,  than  it  would  have  done  in  any  anti- 
Protective  era  of  our  country.  Though  the  money 
prices  of  American  fabrics  should  range  even  fifty  per 
cent,  higher  than  those  of  their  Foreign-made  rivals,  I 
hold  it  the  true  policy  of  our  farmers  to  encourage  and 
prefer  the  home-made,  because  they  thus  advance  their 
own  interest  by  enlarging,  quickening,  and  rendering 
constant  the  demand  for  their  products,  while  securing 
better  prices  for  them. 

If  such  be  not  the  fact,  why  is  it  that  the  farmers  of 
the  British  "  Dominion "  north  of  us  are  selling  their 
lands  at  low  rates,  and  even  (in  some  cases)  deserting 
them  unsold,  to  buy  and  work  dearer  lands  within  the 
bounds  of  our  Union  1  They  have  lower  taxes  and  a 
lighter  debt  in  Canada;  they  have  cheap  British  fabrics, 
imported  under  low  revenue  duties ;  and  they  have  no 
serious  political  grievance  or  discontent ;  yet  they  are 
crossing  over  to  us  this  year  as  never  before  ;  _  and  they 
come  to  stay.  If  Free  Trade  is  better  for  the  farmer, 
why  do  they  not  stay  where  they  can  enjoy  it  ]  If  Pro- 
tection is  not  the  impulse  to  this  exodus,  why  have  they 
not  so  poured  in  upon  us  before  1 

Benjamin  Franklin,  writing  home  from  London  in  1771, 
while  these  States  were  still  British  colonies,  and  their 
manufactures  systematically  discouraged  and  repressed 
by  the  mother  country,  thus  happily  indicates  the  inter- 
dependence of  Agriculture  and  Home  Manufactures  :  — 

"  Every  manufacturer  encouraged  in  our  country  makes 
part  of  a  market  for  provisions  within  ourselves,  and  saves  so 
much  money  to  the  country  as  must  otherwise  be  exported 
to  pay  for  the  manufactures  he  supplies.  Here  in  England  it 
is  well  known  and  understood  that  wherever  a  manufacture 


140  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

is  established  which  employs  a  number  of  hands  it  raises  the 
value  of  land  in  the  neighboring  country  all  around  it.  It 
seems,  therefore,  the  interest  of  our  farmers  and  owners  of 
land  to  encourage  our  young  manufactures  in  preference  to 
foreign  ones." 

The  essential  fact  here  noted  is  one  which  any  one 
may  verify  by  personal  observation.  Let  it  be  noised 
abroad  that  a  "  city  of  spindles  "  is  soon  to  be  erected  on 
some  great  waterfall  hitherto  unimproved  and  useless, 
and  how  quickly  every  farmer  in  the  vicinity  advances 
the  price  of  his  land!  He  may  be  an  ultra  Free-Trader, 
—  he  may  seem  to  detest  Manufactures  as  corrupting, 
or  on  some  other  ground  ;  but  he  none  the  less  realizes 
that  his  farm  is  worth  far  more  to-day  than  it  was  yes- 
terday. It  is  so  for  the  same  reason  that  a  landlord  who 
lives  on  his  estates  and  spends  his  income  in  the  vicinity 
is  more  popular  with  his  tenants  than  if  he  spent  his 
means  in  distant  cities  and  foreign  capitals.  Economists 
may  seem  to  demonstrate  that  the  difference  is  ideal  or 
sentimental,  but  the  tenants  know  better. 

That  the  farmer  who  has  an  ample  market  at  his  door 
may  and  will  diversify  his  products,  improve  or  at  least 
retain  the  better  qualities  of  his  soil  by  a  rotation  of 
crops,  and  return  to  that  soil  the  elements  which  culti- 
vation has  exhausted,  is  plain.  On  this  point,  Henry 
C.  Carey x  happily  says  :  — 

"  Steadiness  and  regularity  in  the  returns  to  agricultural  la- 
bor grow  with  increase  in  the  variety  of  commodities  to  the 
production  of  which  the  land  may  be  devoted.  Disease,  too, 
tends  to  disappear  as  population  grows,  and  a  market  is  cre- 
ated on  or  near  the  land.  The  poor  laborer  of  Ireland  sees 
his  crop  of  potatoes  perish  of  rot,  consequent  on  the  unceas- 
ing exhaustion  of  the  soil ;  and  the  agriculturist  of  Portugal 
witnesses  the  destruction  of  his  hopes  by  the  constant  recur- 

1  Carey's  Social  Science,  Chap.  XVI.  p.  34. 


PROTECTION   FOR  AGRICULTURE.  141 

rence  of  the  vine  disease ;  while  the  American  farmer  is 
perpetually  visited  by  blight,  resulting  from  the  necessity  for 
constantly  withdrawing  from  the  soil  the  material  required 
for  enabling  it  fully  to  supply  the  ever-recurring  crop  of 
wheat.  The  man  who  has  a  market  at  his  door  finds  both 
blight  and  insects  vanish  from  his  land,  and  is  further  enabled, 
from  year  to  year,  more  fully  to  profit  'by  the  discoveries  of 
scientific  men,  and  by  their  aid  to  free  himself  from  disturbing 
causes  that  have  hitherto  brought  loss  to  himself  or  others ; 
thus  making  his  pursuit  so  nearly  certain  in  its  results  as  to 
add  largely  to  the  value  of  his  labor  and  his  land." 

Mr.  E.  B.  Ward,  an  extensive  iron-master  in  the  West, 
addressing  the  farmers  of  Wisconsin,1  correctly  says  :  — 

"  Protection  to  home  industry  is  the  business  of  a  good 
Government,  and  its  advocacy  the  duty  of  the  intelligent  and 
enlightened  citizen.  Not  monopoly  for  the  benefit  of  any 
one  class,  but  Protection  to  that  degree  needed  to  encourage 
manufactures  and  benefit  farmers,  and  keep  our  balance  of 
trade  healthy.  You  do  not  need  a  tariff  on  wheat  to  pre- 
vent its  import  from  Europe,  for  the  freight  is  a  tariff ;  but  a 
roll  of  English  or  German  cloth  is  a  car-load  of  cheap  foreign 
corn,  packed  in  small  compass  ;  and  if  you  buy  it  you  help  to 
keep  down  the  price  of  your  grain  to  its  level.  Better  make 
it  here,  and  have  your  home  market  govern  a  price  that  shall 
rule  higher  than  in  Liverpool  or  Hamburg." 

To  the  same  effect,  substantially,  Adam  Smith,  in  his 
"  Wealth  of  Nations,"  says  :  — 

"  The  increase  and  riches  of  commercial  and  manufacturing 
towns  contribute  to  the  improvement  and  cultivation  of  the 
countries  to  which  they  belong  in  three  different  ways :  First, 
by  affording  a  great  and  ready  market  for  the  rude  produce 
of  the  country,  they  gave  encouragement  to  its  cultivation 
and  further  improvement.  This  benefit  was  not  even  con- 
fined to  the  countries  in  which  they  were  situated,  but  ex- 
tended more  or  less  to  all  those  with  which  they  had  any 
dealings.  To  all  of  them,  they  afforded  a  market  for  some 

1  At  their  State  Fair,  Madison,  October  1, 1868. 


142  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

part  either  of  their  rude  or  manufactured  produce,  and,  conse- 
quently, gave  some  encouragement  to  the  industry  and  im- 
provement of  all.  Their  own  country,  however,  on  account 
of  its  neighborhood,  necessarily  derived  the  greatest  benefit 
from  this  market.  Its  rude  produce  being  charged  with  less 
carriage,  the  traders  could  pay  the  growers  a  better  price  for 
it,  and  yet  afford  it  as  cheap  to  the  consumers  as  that  of  more 
distant  countries." 

This  view  of  the  importance  to  Agriculture  of  the 
proximity  of  Manufactures  is  strikingly  corroborated  by 
Alderman  Mechi,1  one  of  the  foremost  practical  farmers 
and  land-improvers  in  Great  Britain,  who  says  :  — 

"  It  is  precisely  because  British  farmers  have  their  custom- 
ers—  the  British  manufacturers  —  almost  at  their  doors,  and 
that  other  corn-producing  countries  have  not  any  manufac- 
turers, that  British  Agriculture  is  rich  and  thriving." 

The  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher,2  preaching  to  a  congrega- 
tion of -farmers,  in  the  infancy  of  our  manufactures, 
under  the  head  of  "  The  encouragement  and  successful 
prosecution  of  Agriculture,"  says  :  — 

"  I  have  mentioned  a  steady  market,  and  a  fair  profit,  as 
among  the  encouragements  to  be  afforded  to  agriculture.  No 
human  skill  can,  indeed,  control  the  elements,  or  regulate 
the  seasons,  so  as  to  secure  the  equable  fruitfulness  of  the 
earth  in  this  or  other  climes,  or  so  control  the  family  of 
nations  as  to  prevent  the  fluctuation  of  demand  and  price, 
occasioned  by  the  interchange  of  peace  and  war.  But  much 
may  be  done,  by  a  wise  pojicy,  to  check  these  fluctuations  of 
the  market,  and  especially  to  withhold  them  from  extremes 
which  are  destructive  to  national  industry.  No  calamity  is 
greater  than  a  capricious  market,  baffling  the  sober,  extended 
calculations  of  industry,  and  converting  the  husbandmen  of  a 
nation  into  a  body  of  speculators,  tempting  at  one  time  by 

1  How  to  Farm  Profitably;   or,  The  Sayings  and  Doings  of  Mr., 
Alderman  Mechi.    London,  1864. 

2  Thanksgiving  Sermon  on  "  The  Means  of  National  Prosperity  " : 
Litchfield,  Connecticut,  December  2,  1819. 


PROTECTION  FOR  AGRICULTURE.  143 

high  prices  to  adventurous  purchases  and  lavish  family  ex- 
penses, and  then,  by  the  glut  of  the  market  and  the  fall  of 
produce,  dashing  the  hopes  of  thousands  of  families,  and  rear- 
ing upon  their  ruins  a  moneyed  aristocracy.  A  steady  mar- 
ket and  a  fair  profit,  for  the  products  of  the  field,  are  among 
the  greatest  national  blessings  and  noblest  objects  of  nati6nal 
policy.  Like  the  steady  attraction  of  the  sun,  they  keep  up 
the  motion  of  surrounding  bodies,  and,  like  his  light,  diffuse 
cheerfulness  and  activity  through  all  the  works  of  G-od. 
"With  these  remarks  in  view,  I  am  prepared  to  say  :  — 

"  Secondly :  Tliat  the  Protection  and  encouragement  of  our 
manufactures  is  essential  to  national  prosperity. 

"  Manufacturing  establishments,  by  the  introduction  of 
machinery  and  the  division  of  labor,  save  time,  and  give  us 
the  consequences,  while  they  save  the  sustenance  and  wages, 
of  increased  population.  They  afford  employment  also  to 
classes  of  the  community  which  would  otherwise  be  idle 
or  less  usefully  employed,  call  into  action  the  diversity  of 
talents  with  which  G-od  has  endowed  men,  and  lay  open  to 
the  active  mind  of  enterprise  a  greater  choice  of  employ- 
ment, and  more  powerful  incitements  to  industry.  But  the 
vital  utility  of  manufactures  consists  in  their  subserviency 
to  agriculture,  by  affording  to  the  husbandman  a  near  and 
steady  home  market,  and  by  diminishing  the  competition  of 
exported  produce  in  foreign  markets,  increasing  the  demand 
and  the  price.  It  gives  him  the  advantage  of  two  markets 
instead  of  one  :  the  home  market  a  steady  one,  and  the  for- 
eign market  less  fluctuating  and  more  productive  than  if 
glutted  by  the  entire  surplus  product  of  a  great  agricultural 
nation.  In  the  mean  time,  instead  of  quickening  the  industry 
and  augmenting  the  resources  of  other  nations,  we  stimulate 
and  augment  the  capital  of  our  own  nation 

"  National  industry  is  national  wealth.  That  policy  which 
secures  productive  employment  to  the  greatest  portion  of  the 
population  of  a  nation,  consults  her  highest  prosperity.  But 
this  can  be  accomplished  so  effectually,  by  no  means,  as  by 
making  the  manufacturers  of  the  nation  the  customers  of  the 
farmer,  and  the  farmers  the  customers  of  the  manufacturer. 
If  we  would  be  independent  in  reality  of  other  nations,  we 


144  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

must  encourage  agriculture,  by  the  steady  demand  of  a  home 
market,  and  secure  within  ourselves  the  capital  which  results 
from  the  manufacture  of  our  own  raw  material.  The  foreign 
market  is  always  precarious  and  partial,  from  the  vicissitudes 
of  peace  and  war,  plenty  and  want,  as  well  as  from  restric- 
tion^ upon  imports  endlessly  varied  by  nations  to  protect 
from  foreign  competition  the  industry  of  their  own  subjects. 
In  this  manner,  foreign  nations  exert  an  efficient  legislation 
over  our  own  substance,  and  raise  or  sink  the  value  of  our 
property  often  from  fifteen  to  fifty  per  cent.  Such  a  state  of 
uncertainty  and  subjection  to  foreign  caprice  no  nation  ought 
to  endure.  In  time  of  war,  if  we  depend  on  foreign  mar- 
kets, our  produce  is  often  excluded  from  its  accustomed 
market,  and  our  supply  of  imports,  made  necessary  by  habit, 
comes  to  us  at  enhanced  prices,  and  finds  us  with  our  produce 
rotting  upon  our  hands,  and  without  the  means  of  purchase." 

President  Monroe  was  inaugurated  in  1817,  and  in 
his  Inaugural  Address,  and  in  every  one  of  his  six  suc- 
ceeding Annual  Messages,  urged  upon  Congress  the  duty 
and  policy  of  affording  additional  Protection  to  our  strug- 
gling Manufactures.  I  will  cite  but  a  single  passage, 
from  his  third  Annual  Message,1  wherein  he  treats  of  the 
occasional  shipment  to  our  ports  of  the  surplus  products 
which  accumulate  in  foreign  workshops,  and  their  sale 
here  at  exceptionally  low  prices,  as  injurious  to  our  peo- 
ple. Here  is  the  passage,  which  the  disciples  of  Mill  and 
Bastiat  may  ponder  at  their  leisure  :  — 

"  An  additional  cause  of  the  depression  of  these  establish- 
ments may  probably  be  found  in  the  pecuniary  embarrassments 
which  have  recently  affected  those  countries  with  which  our 
commerce  has  been  principally  prosecuted.  Their  manufac- 
tures, for  want  of  a  ready  and  profitable  market  at  home, 
have  been  shipped  by  the  manufacturers  to  the  United  States, 
and,  in  many  instances,  sold  at  a  price  below  their  current 
value  at  the  place  of  manufacture.  Although  this  practice 
may,  from  its  nature,  be  considered  temporary  or  contingent, 
it  is  not  on  that  account  less  injurious  in  its  effects.  Unifonn- 
1  December  7,  1819. 


PROTECTION  FOR  AGRICULTURE.  145 

ity  in  the  demand  and  price  of  an  article  is  highly  desirable 
to  the  domestic  manufacturer.  It  is  deemed  of  great  impor- 
tance to  give  encouragement  to  our  domestic  manufactures. 
In  what  manner  the  evils  adverted  to  may  be  remedied,  and 
how  far  it  may  be  practicable  in  other  respects  to  afford  to 
them  further  encouragement,  paying  due  regard  to  all  the 
other  great  interests  of  the  nation,  is  submitted  to  the  wisdom 
of  Congress." 

I  might  continue  these  citations  indefinitely ;  but  my 
end  is  attained  if  I  have  clearly  exhibited  the  spirit  in 
which  the  foundations  of  our  Protective  policy  were  laid, 
the  liberal  and  comprehensive  aims  of  its  authors  and 
champions.  They  were  mainly  farmers,  or  the  represent- 
atives of  farming  constituencies ;  yet  they  never  sought 
to  build  up  Agriculture  on  the  downfall  of  any  other 
producing  interest.  They  did  not  place  the  industry 
wherewith  they  were  most  immediately  connected  in 
antagonism  to  any  other ;  they  realized  that  the  thrift 
of  each  was  identified  with  the  well-being  of  all.  THE 
AMERICAN  SYSTEM  —  as  they  proudly  and  happily  named 
it  —  was  a  system  of  enlightened,  thoughtful,  and  gen- 
erous consideration  for  every  Home  interest  and  indus- 
try, —  a  system  which  recognized  in  the  prosperity  and 
growth  of  Manufactures  the  assurance  of  constant, 
ample  markets  and  fair  prices  for  the  products  of  our 
Agriculture,  with  steady  employment  at  living  rates  for 
our  Shipping  and  healthful  activity,  with  liberal  profits 
and  infrequent  bankruptcies,  for  our  Commerce.  If  they 
erred,  —  as  I  am  confident  they  did  not,  —  they  erred 
not  through  envy,  or  meanness,  or  narrow,  sordid  con- 
ceptions of  National  policy,  but  in  obedience  to  the  dic- 
tates of  a  statesmanship  broad  as  our  country's  horizon. 
The  principles  they  enunciated  were  of  universal  appli- 
cation, and  their  sympathies,  though  more  immediately 
contemplating  our  own  people,  embraced  and  compre- 
hended all  human  kind. 


146  POLITICAL   ECONOMY. 


XL 
MANUFACTURES  AND   THEIR  NEEDS. 

WE  are  accustomed  to  regard  all  Metals,  Wares,  and 
Fabrics,  as  Manufactures,  which  in  one  sense  they  are  ; 
yet  it  is  manifest,  on  reflection,  that  these  divide  natu- 
rally, in  the  contemplation  of  Political  Economy,  into 
two  distinct  classes,  —  1.  That  wherein  nearly  twice  as 
much  labor  would  be  required  to  double  the  present  ag- 
gregate product ;  2.  That  which  is  subject  to  a  different 
law.  Thus,  if  we  should  require  twice  the  amount  of 
Iron  we  now  buy  or  use,  it  would  probably  cost  at  least 
double  what  we  now  pay  for  the  smaller  quantity ; 
whereas,  there  are  many  fabrics  of  which  (like  newspa- 
pers) the  number  or  quantity  furnished  might  be  doubled 
at  much  less  than  double  the  present  cost.  Half  a  cen- 
tury ago,  when  Ploughs  and  other  farming-implements 
were  mainly  made  by  hand,  their  fabrication  probably 
cost  more  per  piece,  per  dozen,  per  score,  in  this  country 
than  in  Europe  ;  whereas,  apart  from  the  cost  of  the  raw 
material,  we  probably  now  make,  by  the  help  of  steam- 
power  and  costly,  complicated  machinery,  nearly  every 
farm-implement,  edge-tool,  screw,  cut-nail,  &c.,  as  cheap 
as  they  are  made  abroad,  —  some  of  them  even  cheaper, 
—  and  all  of  them  cheaper  than  we  possibly  could  if  we 
had  not  a  steady  market  and  a  vast  demand.  That  arti- 
cles of  this  class  have  been  and  are  cheapened  to  the 
mass  of  our  consumers  by  reason  of  Protection  to  Home 
Industry,  is  not  doubtful ;  while  it  is  probable  that  a 
majority  of  our  consumers  are  required  to  pay  more  dol- 
lars (not  days'  work,  nor  products)  per  pound  or  per  ton 


MANUFACTURES   AND   THEIR   NEEDS.  147 

for  Iron,  "Wool,  Salt,  Steel,  and  a  few  other  rude,  bulky 
staples,  than  if,  in  the  absence  of  a  tariff,  we  mainly  im- 
ported them.  Wherever  Machinery  does  little,  leaving 
nearly  all  to  be  effected  by  Manual  effort,  and  100,000 
tons  of  the  product  costs  one  hundred  times  as  much  as 
1,000  tons,  there  Cheap  Labor  tells,  and  insures  a  lower 
price  ;  but  its  influence  is  much  less  sensibly  felt  in  the 
production  of  most  Wares  and  Fabrics  whereon  Steam 
and  Machinery  have  full  play,  and  which  are  cheapened, 
not  by  low  wages,  but  by  the  extensive  demand,  and  the 
signal  efficiency  of  the  means  whereby  that  demand  is 
satisfied.  It  is  probable,  indeed,  that  American  ingenu- 
ity and  invention,  applied  to  the  production  of  Iron  and 
Steel,  may  increase  the  efficiency  of  the  labor  or  other 
force  employed  therein,  rendering  each  day's  work,  each 
ton  of  coal,  twice,  or  even  thrice,  as  efficient  as  they  now 
are,  —  and  this  anticipation  rests  upon  and  is  justified 
by  past  achievements  ;  but  such  triumphs  are  contin- 
gent, and  not  likely  to  be  promptly  realized,  while  the 
advantages  of  larger  and  steadier  markets  for  most  Wares 
and  Fabrics  are  instant  and  palpable.  The  People  must 
decide  whether  we  are  to  surrender  either  imperilled  de- 
partment of  our  National  Industry  to  be  overwhelmed 
by  foreign  competition,  or  shall  effectually  resolve  to 
protect  and  preserve  them  both. 

Our  Revolutionary  fathers  were  frank  as  well  as  saga- 
cious, and  realized  the  wisdom  of  saying  exactly  what 
you  mean.  Hence  the  preamble  to  the  very  first  Tariff 
which  passed  Congress  x  under  the  Federal  Constitution 
declares  that  such  Tariff  was  required  "  for  the  support 
of  Government,  for  the  discharge  of  the  debts  of  the 
United  States,  and  for  the  encouragement  and  protection 
of  domestic  manufactures."  The  duties  thereby  imposed 
were  generally  quite  low  ;  but  there  was  no  equivocation 

1  Approved  by  President  Washington,  July  4,  1789. 


148  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

or  concealment  as  to  the  objects  for  which  they  were 
levied. 

But  why  protect  especially  Manufactures  ? 

I  answer,  For  the  same  reason  that  we  fortify  our  chief 
harbors  and  our  frontier  posts  rather  than  the  mountains 
and  prairies  in  the  heart  of  our  country.  We  defend 
the  National  Industry,  like  the  National  territory,  at  the 
points  most  exposed  to  assault,  or  where  an  enemy  could 
do  us  greatest  harm.  The  bulk  and  weight  of  most  ag- 
ricultural staples  forbid  their  transportation  to  remote 
markets  except  at  ruinous  cost.  The  abundance  and 
cheapness  of  our  arable  lands,  with  the  intelligence  and 
efficiency  of  our  labor,  and  the  excellence  of  our  farming 
machinery  and  implements,  secure  signal  advantages  to 
our  grain-growers,  and  render  them  impregnable  to  direct 
European  competition.  If  Europe  would  give  us  all  the 
Indian  Corn  and  Hay  we  want  or  would  consume,  we 
could  not  transport  them  to  our  inland -consumers  so  as 
to  afford  them  as  cheaply  as  they  are  now  supplied.  The 
transportation  of  most  Vegetables  and  Edible  Roots,  — • 
Potatoes,  Turnips,  Carrots,  Cabbages,  &c.,  —  is  rendered 
so  expensive  by  their  bulk,  that  few  of  them  would  be 
brought  hither  from  Europe  for  sale  under  any  but  the 
most  extraordinary  circumstances.  Potatoes  in  moderate 
quantities  reach  us  from  Bermuda  and  from  Nova  Scotia ; 
the  Canadas  proffer  us  cheap  Grain  and  Timber ;  while 
we  still  send  to  the  farthest  East  for  Tea,  because  that 
article  embodies  larger  value  in  a  given  bulk  than  almost 
any  other  product  of  the  soil ;  but  I  am  confident  that 
we  should  have  commenced  its  production  years  ago,  and 
that  we  shall  soon  ascertain  that  we  could  long  have 
grown  it  cheaper  than  we  have  imported  it.  So  with 
Raw  Silk,  Willow  (for  baskets,  &c.),  Sugar,  and  some 
other  unmanufactured  or  easily  mamifactured  products  of 
the  soil,  with  which  we  could  have  supplied  ourselves 


MANUFACTURES  AND   THEIR  NEEDS.  149 

from  domestic  sources  cheaper  (in  labor,  if  not  in  money) 
than  we  have  imported  them.  We  have  persisted  in 
buying  abroad  from  habit,  lack  of  consideration,  and  be- 
cause the  establishment  or  naturalization  of  a  new  branch 
of  industry  always  costs  something  at  the  outset,  while 
Trade  glides  easily  in  the  grooves  worn  smooth  by  cus- 
tom and  oiled  by  successive  realizations  of  profit.  Even 
Cotton  was  made  at  a  loss  by  our  people  until  Whitney's 
Gin  —  which  would  never  have  been  invented  had  not 
the  culture  been  previously  naturalized  on  our  soil — re- 
duced at  once  the  cost  of  production  by  fifty  to  seventy- 
five  per  cent. 

We  have  yet  some  Agricultural  staples  to  root  firmly 
in  our  soil  or  extend  over  a  far  greater  area  thereof; 
yet  the  general  truth,  so  earnestly  and  frequently  pro- 
claimed by  the  fathers,  abides,  —  that  our  Agriculture  is 
mainly  to  be  benefited  and  strengthened  by  bringing 
ample  and  steady  markets  nearer  and  nearer  to  the 
doors  of  our  farmers.  Give  them  purchasers  at  hand 
for  Vegetables,  Edible  Roots,  Fruits,  &c.,  and  they  will 
cultivate  their  land  better,  exhaust  it  less,  and  realize 
far  greater  returns  and  profits  per  acre,  than  they  could 
while,  depending  on  remote  markets,  they  were  com- 
pelled to  grow  crop  after  crop  of  Grain.  They  will  now 
reclaim  and  cultivate  the  rich  bottom  lands,  which, 
being  saturated  and  sodden  with  stagnant  water,  have 
hitherto  been  neglected  as  worthless  or  intractable  j1 
and  they  will  realize  more  from  an  acre  of  vegetables  or 
small  fruits  than  formerly  from  ten  acres  of  grain  ;  and 
thus,  mainly,  will  Protection  benefit  our  farmers,  —  as 
was  originally  anticipated  and  sought. 

1  In  the  old  County  of  Westchester,  N.  Y.,  which  has  been  farmed 
for  two  hundred  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  some  thousands  of 
acres  of  these  richest  lands  are  just  beginning  to  be  improved  and 
cultivated ;  not  one-fourth  of  them  have  yet  felt  the  point  of  a  plough. 


150  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

"  But  why  do  Manufactures  need  Protection  ? "  is 
asked  to-day,  as  though  it  were  a  novel  question.  T 
answer  :  — 

I.  Because  of  the  relative  dearness  of  our  Labor.  A 
ton  of  good  Bar  Iron  we  may  roughly  estimate  as  the 
embodiment  of  thirty  days'  faithful  and  in  part  skilful 
human  labor.  In  Belgium  or  France,  this  labor  costs 
twenty-five  dollars,  and,  were  Ore  and  Coal  there  abundant 
and  accessible,  would  cost  still  less  ;  in  Great  Britain,  Ore 
and  Coal  are  far  more  abundant  and  cheaper,  while 
Labor  is  paid  rather  higher,  so  that  the  Iron  costs  a 
little  less  ;  in  this  country,  considerably  more,  mainly 
because  Labor  is  dearer  with  us.  We  thus  have  our 
choice,  —  between  importing  most  of  our  Iron  or  pro- 
tecting the  home  production.  Now,  I  never  made  any 
Iron,  nor  had  any  other  than  a  public,  general  interest 
in  making  any,  while  I  have  bought  and  used  many 
thousands  of  dollars'  worth,  in  the  shape  of  power- 
presses,  engines,  boilers,  building-plates,  &c.  It  is  my 
interest,  you  say,  to  have  cheap  Iron.  Certainly  :  but  I 
buy  Iron,  not  (ultimately  and  really)  with  money,  but 
with  the  product  of  my  labor,  — that  is,  with  news- 
papers ;  and  I  can  better  afford  to  pay  seventy  dollars 
per  ton  for  Iron  made  by  men  who  can  and  do  buy 
American  newspapers  than  take  it  for  fifty  dollars  of 
those  who  rarely  see  and  never  buy  one  of  my  products. 
The  money  price  of  the  American  Iron  may  be  higher, 
but  its  real  cost  to  me  is  less  than  that  of  the  British 
Iron.  And  my  case  is  that  of  the  great  body  of  Ameri- 
can farmers  and  other  prodiicers  of  exchangeable  wealth. 
We  have  somewhat  cheapened  Iron  by  American  in- 
ventions and  improved  pi-ocesses ;  we  shall  doubtless 
cheapen  it  still  further  if  we  cherish  and  uphold  its 
production  among  us  ;  yet  I  apprehend  that  this  (unlike 
several  other  branches  of  manufacture)  is  one  of  the 


MANUFACTURES   AND   THEIR  NEEDS.  151 

staples  on  \vhich  Cheap  Labor  tells  so  directly  and 
powerfully  that  we  can  never  make  it  for  so  few  dollars 
as  it  may  be  produced  for  somewhere  else.  Still,  it 
seems  to  me  plain  that  our  true  interest  as  a  people 
requires  that  we  henceforth  produce  it  far  more  exten- 
sively than  we  have  ever  yet  done. 

II.  Because,  in  a  subordinate  degree,  of  the  relative 
scarcity  and  dearness  of  Capital  among  us.    We  are  still 
a  young  people,  and  lack  the  vast  accumulations  of  Capi- 
tal that  Great  Britain  and  France  can  boast.     We  have 
few  or  no  families  that  have  been  engaged  in  manufac- 
turing for  a  century  or  more,  and  have  amassed  wealth 
therein.     In  order  to  obtain  the  large  capital  required 
to  erect  and  stock  a  great  manufactory,  we  have  to  form 
joint-stock  companies,  and  drum  for  subscriptions  on 
every  side.     Those  who  invest  want  good  dividends,  re- 
garding  the  business  as  hazardous ;    while    our  long- 
established  and  well-known  foreign  rivals  can  borrow  at 
five  per  cent.     This  gives  them  a  decided  advantage, 
which  they  are  not  slow  to  improve. 

III.  They  have  the  advantage  of  us,  moreover,  in  an 
abundance  of  artisans  of  eminent  experience  and  skill. 
We  have  rapidly  gained  on  them  since  the  enactment  of 
the  Tariff  of  1861 ;  still,  we  have  jmuch  to  learn,  —  or 
rather,  we  need  to  teach  and  perfect  a  good  many  of  our 
people  in  arts  wherein  Europe  has  yet  the  advantage  of 
us. 

IV.  Our  Railroad  system,  though  extensive  and  rapidly 
extending,    is  still  far  less  perfect,   as  a  handmaid  to 
Manufactures,  than  the  British,  which  connects  almost 
every  ore-bed  with  almost  every  coal-mine  on  the  island. 
It  was  but  a  few  years   since,  that  the  great  Sterling 
iron-mines  of  our  State  and  New  Jersey  were  connected 
by  rail  with  tide-water  in  the  Hudson ;  the  first  railroad 
from  a  Champlain  ore-bed  to  the  Lake  was  opened  this 


152  POLITICAL  ECONOMY.  . 

Summer ;  the  connection  of  our  Copake  (Columbia 
County)  iron-mines  with  the  Hudson  by  rail  is  not  yet 
complete.  .Only  last  Winter,  I  saw  a  long  string  of 
teams  drawing  on  sleds  Iron  Ore  from  the  beds  in 
Amenia  (Dutchess  County)  to  the  furnaces  in  Connecti- 
cut, six  or  eight  miles  away.  In  England,  a  railroad 
would  have  been  doing  the  work  at  less  than  half  the 
cost  at  least  ten  years  ago.  In  Missouri,  Illinois,  and 
even  in  Indiana,  large  sums  are  being  this  year  ex- 
pended to  bring  together  Ore,  Coal,  and  Limestone,  far 
cheaper  than  hitherto.  At  Pittsburg,  I  saw  Steel 
extensively  made,  eighteen  months  since,  from  ores 
freighted  thither,  from  Lake  Champlain,  New  Jersey, 
and  Lake  Superior  respectively,  —  none  of  them  brought 
less  than  three  hundred,  and  most  of  them  over  five 
hundred  miles.  We  shall  shorten  and  cheapen  these 
routes,  or  we  shall  find  the  requisite  ores  at  points  much 
nearer  each  other.  Every  year  of  successful  production 
wears  smoother  the  ways  over  which  our  raw  materials 
glide  to  meet  each  other.  Give  us  time  ! 

V.-  As  to  Textile  Fabrics,  France  has  a  great  advan- 
tage over  us  as  the  dictator  of  fashions,  the  arbiter  of 
taste ;  while  Great  Britain  has  still  greater  in  the  fact 
that  her  goods  obtained  possession  of  the  world's  mar- 
kets during  the  great  wars  which  followed  the  French 
Revolution,  when  her  flag  had  nearly  swept  the  seas, 
and  her  forces  held  at  least  temporary  possession  of  near- 
ly all  the  isles  of  the  main.  To  this  day,  the  invisible 
threads  of  Commerce  centre  at  London  :  if  Calicoes  or 
De  Laines,  Flannels  or  Hosiery,  are  wanted  in  Australia 
or  China,  Venezuela  or  Peru,  the  dealer  looks  to  England 
as  the  natural  source  of  supply,  and  is  but  dimly  con- 
scious that  there  is  any  other.  Facility  of  quick  distri- 
bution over  a  vast  area  is  one  of  the  vital  elements  of 
cheap  and  profitable  production  for  all  fancy  fabrics  in 


MANUFACTURES  AND   THEIR  NEEDS.  153 

our  day,  when  a  wide  and  eager  demand  is  indispensable 
to  cheap  and  profitable  production. 

VI.  Foreign  fabrics  have  great  advantages  over  ours, 
even  in  our  own  markets,  because  of  the  popular  pre- 
sumption that  their  colors  are  more  durable  or  their 
styles  more  attractive.     We  have  no  such  pride  in  wear- 
ing our  own  fabrics  as  has  been  patriotically  and  be- 
neficently evinced  by  other  people.     Too  many  of  our 
merchants   and   merchant  tailors   habitually  disparage 
American  fabrics  and  exalt  those  of  our  European  rivals, 
which  they  sell  at  higher  prices  and  larger  profits  be- 
cause   they  are  foreign.      Some  jobbers,  having  sold  a 
foreign  fabric  at  fifty  cents  per  yard  till  it  has  lost  the 
gloss  of  novelty,  will  order  an  American  imitation  of  it 
at  a  far  lower  price  ;  and,  when  it  is  seen  to  be  an  imita- 
tion, will  say,  "  Of   course,   it   is   inferior  in  style  and 
texture  :  what  do  you  expect  of  American  fabrics'?"  — 
when  in  fact  it  is  exactly  what  they  ordered  and  paid  for. 

VII.  The  clews  of  trade,  right  here  in  New  York,  are 
in  foreign  hands  and  wielded  in  subordination  to  foreign 
interests.     Let  me  give  an  example  :  — 

Dr.  Crosby,  of  New  Haven,  Conn.,  recently  invented 
most  ingenious  machinery  for  the  manufacture  of  Fish- 
Hooks,  by  which  they  are  automatically  fashioned  from 
a  coil  of  wire  nearly  as  fast  as  cut-nails  are  made,  —  are 
bent,  pointed,  barbed,  flattened  at  the  head,  &c.,  more 
perfectly  than  could  be  done  by  manipulation.  Every 
size,  from  pin  to  cod,  is  made  with  equal  facility  and  per- 
fection. Having  finished  a  quantity,  he  sent  a  sample 
consignment  of  them  down  to  a  New  York  house  which 
led  the  trade  ;  but  they  were  rejected,  as  not  of  standard 
excellence.  Again  he  sent  a  consignment,  with  a  similar 
result.  A  third  time  he  tried,  accompanying  his  wares, 
and  expressing  a  hope  that  these  would  answer,  —  but 
no  ;  they  were  not  up  to  the  mark.  "  Why,  gentlemen," 
7* 


154  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

he  remonstrated,  "  these  ought  to  suit  you ;  for  they  are 
British  hooks,  bought  from  your  own  store,  and  packed,  in 
my  boxes  to  test  you."  Of  course,  that  did  not  signify ; 
the  jobbers  were  resolved  to  keep  the  market  for  their 
British  friends ;  and  they  had  the  power. 

VIII.  Our  American  manufacturers  have  not,  as  a 
class,  made  the  proper  and  requisite  efforts  to  cause  the 
quality  and  cheapness  of  their  Wares  and  Fabrics  to  be 
generally  known.  They  have  confined  their  efforts  to 
the  Trade,  —  that  is,  the  jobbers  of  our  great  cities,  — 
when  they  should  have  appealed  directly  and  earnestly 
to  the  People.  If  consumers  generally  knew  how  much 
De  Laines  (for  example)  have  been  cheapened  since  we 
began  to  make  them  here,  —  how  much  this  home  manu- 
facture has  done  to  cheapen  them,  —  that  knowledge 
would  exert  a  most  salutary  influence.  So  of  Merrimac 
Prints,  and  other  of  our  standard  fabrics.  No  people 
who  wholly  import  their  manufactures  are  or  can  be  so 
cheaply  and  amply  supplied  with  them  as  ours  are  at  this 
moment.  "  Dear-bought  and  far-fetched  "  is  a  trite  old 
saw,  drawn  from  the  heart  of  universal  human  experi- 
ence. I  am  assured  that  Bessemer  Steel  Rails  (British) 
were  selling  here  at  $  150  per  ton  till  the  first  American 
furnace  commenced  turning  them  out,  when  they  dropped 
suddenly  to  $  110  per  ton. 

The  history  of  the  Watch-manufacture  in  this  country 
is  full  of  instruction  and  encouragement.  Though  we 
had  made  our  own  Clocks,  and  some  to  sell,  for  a  half- 
century,  we  had  depended  entirely  on  Europe  for  our 
Watches,  down  nearly  or  quite  to  18GO,  when  the  manu- 
factory at  Waltham,  Mass.,  after  one  or  two  failures,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  its  present  managers.  They  soon  ap- 
pealed directly  to  the  masses  for  judgment  and  patron- 
age ;  sold  every  Watch  distinctly  and  proudly  as  Ameri- 
can, and  challenged  the  world  to  surpass  their  products 


MANUFACTURES   AND   THEIR  NEEDS.  155 

either  iii  excellence  or  cheapness ;  and,  by  the  disburse- 
ment of  many  thousands  per  annum  in  advertising,  as 
well  as  by  making  a  good  article  and  selling  it  cheap, 
gradually  imprinted  on  the  public  mind  a  conviction  of 
the  truth  of  their  claims.  Their  Watches  sold  more 
and  more  extensively  month  after  month,  as  they  were 
enabled,  by  extending  their  works,  perfecting  their  pro- 
cesses, and  increasing  the  number  of  their  workmen,  to 
improve  the  production ;  until  we  are  this  day  making 
most  of  the  Watches  we  require, — making  more  than  we 
ever  imported  in  the  years  happily  past.  For  not  only 
does  the  original  Watch-manufactory  at  Waltham  con- 
tinue to  prosper,  and  enlarge  its  borders,  but  several 
rivals  have  recently  sprung  into  existence  in  different 
parts  of  our  country,  under  the  stimulus  afforded  by  the 
emphatic  success  of  the  pioneer  enterprise.  I  confident- 
ly predict  that  the  day  is  not  distant  when  we  shall  ex- 
port Watches  as  regularly  and  as  extensively  as  we  have 
long  exported  Clocks,  —  sending  them  even  to  China,  — 
and  I  believe  this  triumph  is  due  not  more  to  the  ability 
evinced  at  Waltham  to  make  good  Watches  cheaply  than 
to  the  judicious  energy  and  enterprise  exhibited  by 
Messrs.  Bobbins  &  Appleton  in  making  their  excellence 
universally  known.  What  has  been  done  by  them  is  im- 
portant mainly  as  showing  what  may,  to  like  profit,  Na- 
tional as  well  as  personal,  be  done  in  many  other  depart- 
ments of  manufacturing  industry. 

IX.  The  dishonest  practice  of  labelling  or  stamping 
American  manufactures  as  though  of  foreign  origin  has 
exerted  a  most  baleful  influence  over  our  industrial  pro- 
gress. All  know  that  the  fluid  sold  as  Champagne  in 
this  country  is  mainly  a  home-made  concoction  of  cider 
and  drugs  ;  and,  whether  this  be  or  be  not  more  hurtful 
than  the  French  liquor  it  personates,  it  is  reprehensible 
as  a  counterfeit  and  a  fraud.  A  leading  American  pro- 


156  POLITICAL   ECONOMY. 

ducer  of  pure  wines  from  grapes  of  his  own  growing  re-. 
cently  assured  me  that  he  had  been  shown  through  a 
great  establishment  in  this  city,  whence  thousands  of 
bottles  of  wines  of  various  kinds  and  brands  were  sent 
forth  daily,  yet  into  which  no  drop  of  grape-juice  ever 
entered.  I  was  once  sitting  with  some  two  hundred 
others,  at  a  public  dinner-table,  when  my  left-hand  neigh- 
bor (a  total  stranger),  seeing  that  I  drank  no  wine,  ab- 
ruptly remarked  :  "  You  do  not  know  that  this  Cham- 
pagne was  not  imported  from  France."  I  now  looked  at 
his  bottle  for  the  first  time,  and  replied  :  "  No ;  I  can 
say  nothing  as  to  the  origin  of  the  liquor,  for  I  know 
nothing  ;  but  that  inscription  on  the  cork,  '  Champagne 
au  Rheims,'  is  made  by  Yankee  type,  —  I  could  swear  to 
it  in  Egypt,  — -  no  Frenchman  ever  cut  type  like  that." 
I  am  told,  but  do  not  credit,  that  the  latest  achievement 
in  this  department  of  home  manufacture  is  the  produc- 
tion of  Champagne  from  Petroleum,  and  that  the  new 
fabric  has  large  currency  and  popularity  in  those  metro- 
politan haunts  whither  rural  greenhorns  eagerly  flock, 
\mder  cover  of  darkness,  to  "  see  life."  I  trust  that  a 
moderate  quantity  of  the  beverage  suffices  to  assuage 
their  thirst. 

This  whole  business  of  fabricating  on  our  own  soil 
imitations  of  foreign  products,  to  be  palmed  off  as  genu- 
ine, is  not  merely  dishonest  and  fearfully  demoralizing ; 
it  tends  to  discredit  and  degrade  American  manufactures 
generally.  A  counterfeit  can  hardly  fail  to  be  inferior  in 
serviceable  qualities  to  the  thing  counterfeited  ;  he  who 
will  affix  a  fraudulent  label  or  trade-mark  to  his  product, 
in  the  expectation  that  he  may  thereby  sell  it  more  read- 
ily or  for  a  higher  price,  will  rarely  hesitate  to  cheat  in 
the  substance  as  well  as  the  show ;  while  the  talent  he 
devotes  to  making  his  product  pass  for  that  which  it  is 
not  will  inevitably  be  subtracted  from  that  which  he 


MANUFACTURES   AND    THEIR   NEEDS.  157 

should  apply  to  perfecting  that  product.  And,  besides, 
the  true  workman  has  an  honest  pride  in  his  work  ;  he 
wishes  its  excellence  to  be  seen  and  honored  as  his :  make 
him  conceal  his  name  behind  a  false  label,  and  he  is  no 
longer  impelled  to  do  his  best.  He  is  tempted  to  rest 
content  with  perfection  in  the  label  or  trade-mark,  and 
neglect  the  fabric  or  product  it  knavishly  commends. 
The  consuming  public,  thus  defrauded,  is  led  to  associate 
conceptions  of  inferiority  and  dishonesty  with  that  of 
domestic  production,  —  to  consider  "home-made"  and 
"worthless"  all  but  synonymous  terms.  Vigilant  search 
for,  public  exposure  and  condign  punishment  of,  every 
instance  wherein  a  home-made  article  is  ticketed  or  in 
any  way  sought  to  be  palmed  off  as  of  foreign  origin,  are 
demanded  by  the  interests  alike  of  public  morality,  jus- 
tice to  those  whose  trade-mark  is  thus  counterfeited,  pro- 
tection to  consumers,  and  the  prosperity,  progress,  and 
good  name,  of  legitimate  American  manufactures. 

I  have  thus  glanced  at  some  of  the  more  formidable 
impediments  to  the  growth,  stability,  and  complete  suc- 
cess, of  American  manufacturing  industry.  Some  of 
them  are  incident  to  its  comparative  infancy,  —  there 
being  scarcely  a  market,  our  own  included,  where  Euro- 
pean fabrics  have  not  preceded  and  forestalled  ours ;  and 
all  must  realize  that  it  is  far  less  difficult  to  retain  a 
market  than  to  wrest  it  from  its  established  possessors. 
Others  are  the  fruits  of  mistakes  and  shortcomings  on 
the  part  of  our  manufacturers ;  and  these  they  must  be 
admonished  to  correct,  or  abide  the  consequences.  But 
there  remain  a  large  and  important  class  deeply  grounded 
in  the  relative  dearness  of  American  Labor ;  and  these 
I  hold  it  the  Nation's  interest  and  duty  to  counteract 
and  overcome,  by  the  imposition  or  retention  of  such 
rates  of  duty  on  the  foreign  rivals  of  our  products  as 


158  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

will  enable  our  producers,  with  reasonable  skill  and  ef- 
ficiency on  their  part,  to  retain  the  control  of  our  own 
markets,  and  not  be  driven  therefrom  by  a  foreign  com- 
petition rendered  overwhelming  by  the  far  cheaper  Labor 
and  more  abundant  as  well  as  cheaper  Capital  of  Europe. 
Suppose  the  markets  of  the  world  divisible  into  one 
hundred  equal  parts,  seventy-five  of  which  are  now  pos- 
sessed exclusively  by  the  manufacturers  of  Europe,  while 
but  twenty-five  are  shared  by  them  with  those  of  this 
country,  I  hold  it  neither  fair,  just,  nor  beneficent,  that 
our  artisans  and  artificers  should  compete  for  these 
twenty-five  on  the  same  terms  with  those  who  already 
exclusively  hold  by  preemption  the  larger  number.  To 
secure,  by  discriminating  imposts,  our  own  markets  to 
our  own  fabricants  seems  to  me  just  to  them,  beneficent 
to  our  country  and  all  her  people,  and  conducive  to  the 
steady  progress  and  diffusion  of  industrial  art  through- 
out the  world. 


THE  LABORING   CLASS  —  ITS   RIGHTS.  159 


XII. 


THE  LABORING  CLASS  — ITS  RIGHTS,  INTER- 
ESTS, DUTIES,  AND  NEEDS. 

IF  there  be  those  who  would  array  Labor  against 
Capital,  I  am  not  of  them,  nor  with  them.  If  there  be 
those  who  regard  the  interests  of  Labor  and  of  Capital 
as  naturally  or  properly  antagonistic,  I  do  not  agree 
with  them.  In  using  the  term  "  Laboring  Class "  or 
"  Working  Men,"  I  conform  to  a  usage  which  has  the 
recommendation  of  convenience,  and  hardly  another. 
In  my  view,  there  should  be  none  other  than  laborers, 
save  the  infantile,  the  disabled,  and  the  dead ;  and 
there  are  not  nearly  so  many  non-laborers  as  is 
vulgarly  supposed.  The  rum-seller  is  a  worker, 
though  to  no  good  end ;  even  the  gambler  evinces  in- 
dustry, though  to  very  bad  purpose.  If  I  had  the 
ordering  of  human  affairs,  I  would  have  every  one  an 
apprentice  of  some  sort  in  youth,  a  worker  for  wages  (or 
something  equivalent  thereto)  in  early  manhood  (or 
womanhood),  and  every  one  his  or  her  own  employer  at 
a  later  stage  ;  so  that  the  class  of  hired  workers  should 
be  constantly  receiving  recruits  on  one  side  and  dismiss- 
ing skilled,  experienced  persons  to  enter  upon  graver 
responsibilities  on  the  other.  I  would  have  every  jour- 
neyman realize  that  he  will  soon  be  an  employer,  every 
employer  remember  that  he  was  once  a  journeyman,  as 
his  son  (if  son  he  have)  soon  will  be  ;  and  I  believe  the 
influence  of  these  contemplations  would  be  salutary  on 
all  alike.  I  do  not  like  to  hear  a  man  boast  that  he  has 
been  a  hireling  these  twenty  or  thirty  years,  and  expects 


160  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

to  remain  such  till  death ;  for,  though  it  be  true  that  no 
man  should  be  ashamed  of  a  humble  position,  I  qualify 
the  statement  by  the  proviso  that  he  has  had  no  fair 
opportunity  to  rise  above  it.  A  true  man  will  much 
prefer  to  shoulder  a  hod  or  sweep  streets  rather  than  eat 
the  bread  of  idleness  and  dependence ;  but,  either  our 
political  institutions  are  mistakes,  or  a  hale,  two-handed 
person,  who  has  not  been  pulled  down  by  unavoidable 
misfortune,  should  be  ashamed  that,  having  had  twenty 
years'  control  of  his  own  time  and  faculties,  he  still  finds 
hod-carrying  or  street-sweeping  the  best  thing  he  is  asked 
or  enabled  to  do.  If  I  had  had  a  fair  chance  to  do  for 
myself  for  even  twenty  years,  and  could  now  find  no 
better  employment  than  the  rudest  and  coarsest  day- 
labor,  I  should  accept  the  situation,  but  not  be  inclined 
to  brag  of  it. 

Yet  Political  Economy  recognizes  and  deals  with  facts 
as  they  are  >  and  one  most  important  fact  is  the  existence 
of  a  very  large  class  in  this  and  a  still  larger  in  most 
other  countries,  who  are  distinguished  (however  inac- 
curately) as  the  Laboring  Class,  in  that  they  live  by  sell- 
ing their  labor  for  wages,  instead  of  applying  it  to  pro- 
duction on  their  own  account.  True,  the  lawyer,  the 
doctor,  and  even  the  clergyman,  may  be  said  to  work 
for  wages  ;  but  these  are  not  included  in  the  popular 
conception  of  the  Laboring  Class,  and  I  take  things  as 
I  find  them. 

The  Laboring  Class,  living  from  hand  to  mouth,  on 
the  earnings  or  recompense  of  their  daily  efforts,  want 
steady  work  and  good  wages,  —  the  wages  anyhow  ;  the 
work  for  the  sake  of  the  wages.  They  have  a  keen  eye 
to  their  generic  social  or  class  interest ;  wherein  they 
evince  their  kinship  to  the  entire  race  sprung  from  Adam. 
They  do  not,  as  a  class,  believe  it  the  chief  end  of  man 
to  render  Shirtings  or  Sugar  inordinately  cheap ;  they 


THE   LABORING   CLASS  —  ITS   INTEREST.         161 

believe  it  more  important  that  the  maker  shall  be  well 
fed,  well  clad,  well  lodged,  well  developed,  and  well 
taught.  Every  spontaneous,  instinctive  movement  of 
this  class  looks  to  fair  payment  for  honest,  useful  effort 
first ;  cheapness  of  product  —  if  such  cheapness  be  com- 
patible with  the  primary  requisite  • —  afterward.  And, 
while  narrow  views,  selfish  greed,  and  short-sighted  ra- 
pacity, are  manifest  in  some  of  the  organized  movements 
of  this  as  of  other  classes,  I  believe  the  general  result  of 
its  organizations  and  its  efforts  has  been  conducive  to  the 
permanent  moral  elevation  and  physical  well-being  of. 
the  race. 

The  Laboring  Class,  previously  voiceless  and  power- 
less, has  risen  to  political  importance  by  reason  of  the 
American  and  French  Revolutions  and  their  legitimate 
consequences,  and  now  finds  itself  appealed  to  by  rival 
parties,  pretensions,  policies,  philosophies,  to  arbitrate 
between  them,  with  special  reference  to  its  own  class 
interest.  The  Economic  controversy,  with  others,  thus 
appeals,  through  the  rival  disputants,  to  this  rising 
power,  as  follows  :  — 

"  Laborers  !  "  say  in  substance  the  Free-Traders,  "we 
propose  to  benefit  you  by  reducing  the  cost  of  everything 
everywhere  to  the  lowest  sum  for  which  it  can  possibly 
be  afforded.  This  involves  the  reduction  in  general  of 
your  money  wages ;  but  the  lesser  sum  will  buy  more 
than  the  larger  which  it  supersedes,  because  of  the  re- 
sulting cheapness  of  whatever  you  may  buy  or  need.  It 
involves  further  your  deprivation,  in  some  cases,  of  the 
employment  you  now  possess  and  live  by  ;  but  its  natu- 
ral effect  being  to  increase  consumption  by  cheapening 
cost,  it  must,  in  its  general  operation,  create  more  work 
than  it  supersedes  ;  so  that  you  will,  on  the  whole, 
have  more  work  than  now,  while  your  wages,  even  if  re- 
duced in  nominal  amount,  will  buy  more  than  those  you 

K 


102  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

at  present  receive  will  now  do  :  hence,  you  will  be  gain- 
ers on  both  sides  :  so  regard  your  own  interest,  and  vote 
with  us." 

That  it  may  be  certainly  known  that  I  do  not  misap- 
prehend or  misstate  the  argument  I  here  condense,  I  cite 
the  words  of  J.  R.  McCulloch, x  one  of  the  most  renowned 
doctors  of  the  Free  Trade  school,  who  says :  — 

"  Admitting,  however,  that  the  total  abolition  of  the  pro- 
hibitive system  might  force  a  few  thousand  workmen  to 
abandon  their  present  occupations,  it  is  material  to  observe 
that  equivalent  new  ones  would  in  consequence  be  opened  to 
'receive  them ;  and  that  the  total  aggregate  demand  for  their 
services  would  not  in  any  degree  be  diminished.  Suppose  that, 
under  a  system  of  Free  Trade,  we  imported  a  part  of  the  silks 
and  linens  we  now  manufacture  at  home,  it  is  quite  clear,  in- 
asmuch as  neither  the  French  nor  Germans  would  send  us 
their  commodities  gratis,  that  we  should  have  to  give  them 
an  equal  amount  of  British  commodities  in  exchange ;  so  that 
such  of  our  artificers  as  had  been  engaged  in  the  silk  and 
linen  manufactures,  and  were  thrown  out  of  them,  would  in 
future  obtain  employment  in  the  production  of  the  articles 
that  must  be  exported  as  equivalents  to  the  foreigner.  We 
may,  by  giving  additional  freedom  to  commerce,  change  the 
species  of  labor  in  demand,  but  we  cannot  lessen  its  quantity." 

This  view,  in  substance,  is  taken  by  all  the  Free  Trade 
economists  who  consider  the  case  of  the  Laboring  Class 
at  all.  Its  radical  vice,  in  my  conception,  is  its  con- 
founding a  man  with  a  mere  machine,  like  a  steam-engine 
or  spinning-jenny,  which  does  with  equal  and  indifferent 
facility  whatever  work  is  adapted  to  its  capacities,  and 
is  simply  set  aside  when  no  longer  wanted,  to  await  a 
fresh  demand  for  its  services,  neither  consuming  nor  suf- 
fering in  the  interim.  But  a  man  —  even  the  rudest 
and  humblest —  is  quite  other  and  more  than  a  machine. 
He  has  daily  wants,  needs,  that  cannot  be  postponed  nor 

1  Principles  of  Political  Economy,  Chap.  V.  p.  155. 


THE   LABORING   CLASS  —  ITS  INTEREST.  163 

ignored ;  he  is  deteriorated  by  idleness,  as  a  mere  ma- 
chine is  not ;  he  has  often  a  wife  and  children  to  be  sub- 
sistedj  and  a  home  to  be  broken  up  and  abandoned  when 
the  failure  of  employment  compels  a  change  of  vocation. 
The  coolness  with  which  McCulloch  and  his  school  speak 
of  depriving  a  man  of  the  work  which  he  has  devoted 
years  to  mastering  and  has  now  at  his  fingers'  ends,  and 
setting  him  adrift,  to  pick  up  something  else  whereof  he 
knows  nothing,  and  in  which  he  must  naturally  prove 
clumsy  and  inefficient,  proves  them  singularly  ill  informed 
in  the  premises,  or  callous  to  the  moans  of  wide-spread 
human  misery. 

But  I  dispute  the  assumption  that  the  multitudes 
thus  thrown  out  of  employment  by  the  prostration  and 
ruin  of  one  pursuit  or  department  of  industry  would,  as 
a  necessary  consequence,  even  "  in  future,"  as  McCulloch 
vaguely  asserts,  find  work  in  the  new  or  greatly  expanded 
pursuits,  with  whose  products  payment  must  be  made 
for  the  imported  fabrics  whereby  that  domestic  pursuit 
or  vocation  was  crushed  out.  And,  on  this  point,  I  cite, 
in  refutation  of  McCulloch's  theory,  the  testimony  of  an 
equally  thorough  Free-Trader,  the  late  Dr.  Bowring,  who, 
in  setting  before  Parliament  the  misery  of  the  hand-loom 
weavers  of  India,  whose  industry  had  been  crushed  out 
by  the  spinning-jennies  and  power-looms  of  Great  Britain, 
says  :  — 

"  I  hold,  Sir,  in  my  hand  the  correspondence  which  has 
taken  place  between  the  G-overnor-G-eneral  of  India  and  the 
East  India  Company  on  the  subject  of  the  Dacca  hand-loom 
weavers.  It  is  a  melancholy  story  of  misery,  so  far  as  they 
are  concerned,  and  as  striking  an  evidence  of  the  wonderful 
progress  of  manufacturing  industry  in  this  country.  Some 
years  ago,  the  East  India  Company  annually  received  of  the  . 
produce  of  the  looms  of  India  to  the  amount  of  from  six  to 
eight  millions  of  pieces  of  cotton  goods.  The  demand  grad- 
ually fell  to  somewhat  more  than  one  million,  and  has  now 


164  POLITICAL   ECONOMY. 

nearly  ceased  altogether.  In  1800,  the  United  States  took 
from  India  nearly  eight  hundred  thousand  pieces  of  cottons ; 
in  1830,  not  four  thousand.  .  In  1800,  one  million  of  pieces 
were  shipped  to  Portugal ;  in  1830,  only  twenty  thousand. 
Terrible  are  the  accounts  of  the  wretchedness  of  the  poor 
India  weavers,  reduced  to  absolute  starvation.  And  what 
was  the  sole  cause  ?  The  presence  of  the  cheaper  English 
manufacture,  —  the  production  by  the  power-loom  of  the 
article  which  these  unhappy  Hindoos  had  been  used  for  ages 
to  make  by  their  unimproved  and  hand-directed  shuttles. 
Sir,  it  was  impossible  that  they  should  go  on  weaving  what 
no  one  would  wear  or  buy.  Numbers  of  them  died  of  hun- 
ger; the  remainder  were,  for  the  most  part,  transferred  to 
other  occupations,  principally  agricultural.  Not  to  have 
changed  their  trade  was  inevitable  starvation.  And  at  this 
moment,  Sir,  that  Dacca  district  is  supplied  with  yarn  and 
cotton  cloth  from  the  power-looms  of  England.  The  lan- 
guage of  the  Governor-General  is :  '  European  skill  and 
machinery  have  superseded  the  produce  of  India.  The  Court 
declare  that  they  are  at  last  obliged  to  abandon  the  only  re- 
maining portion  of  the  trade  in  cotton  manufacture,  in  both 
Bengal  and  Madras,  because,  through  the  intervention  of 
power-looms,  the  British  goods  have  a  decided  advantage  in 
quality  and  price.  Cotton  piece-goods,  for  so  many  ages  the 
staple  manufacture  of  India,  seem  thus  forever  lost.  The 
Dacca  muslins,  celebrated  over  the  whole  world  for  their 
beauty  and  fineness,  are  also  annihilated  from  the  same  cause. 
And  the  present  suffering  to  numerous  classes  in  India  is 
scarcely  to  be  paralleled  in  the  history  of  commerce.' " 

Here  you  see  McCulloch's  conditions  of  recompense  in 
full  activity :  the  British  power-loom  fabrics  unquestion- 
ably cheaper  than  those  they  supplanted ;  the  lapse  of 
years  to  give  time  for  Labor  to  adapt  itself  to  the  new 
conditions  ;  while  a  patient,  docile,  diligent  people,  never 
striking,  nor  rioting,  nor  rebelling,  ask  only  opportunity 
of  earning  somehow,  by  some  kind  of  industry,  the  few 
cents  per  day  that  insure  the  satisfaction  of  their  hum- 
ble wants.  What  do  they  experience  ?  Death  by  hun- 


THE  LABORING   CLASS  —  ITS   INTEREST.        165 

ger,  "  numbers  "  of  them,  though  willing  to  work  at  any- 
thing that  will  give  them  daily  bread.  And  even  the 
poor  satisfaction  of  suffering  for  the  good  of  others  is 
denied  them  ;  for  the  calamity  is  by  no  means  confined 
to  the  class  directly  affected,  the  hand-loom  weavers,  but 
"  the  present  suffering,  to  numerous  classes  in  India,  is 
scarcely  to  be  paralleled  in  the  history  of  commerce." 

Is  not  this  demonstration  1  Where  was  a  dictum  ever 
brought  to  the  test  of  practical  experiment  if  not  here  1 

II.  Manufactures  requiring  greater  intelligence,  rarer 
skill,  more  delicate  manipulation,  than  Agriculture,  it  is 
inevitable  that  the  recompense  of  Labor  therein  should 
be  proportionally  higher.  Even  though  an  equality 
should  be  maintained  in  the  lowest  grades  of  service,  the 
comparative  value  of  skill,  experience,  ability,  is  far 
greater  in  Manufactures,  and  must  be  paid  for  accord- 
ingly. Suppose  one  hundred  young  men,  just  of  age, 
engage  to-day  in  Agriculture,  and  a  like  number  in  Manu- 
factures, at  the  rate  of  one  dollar  each  per  day,  and  all 
persist  with  energy,  diligence,  sobriety,  and  average  ability, 
for  the  next  ten  years.  You  will  now  find  that  a  large 
portion  of  the  artisans  have  risen  to  responsible  positions, 
yielding  them  from  $  500  to  $  2,500  each  per  annum ; 
while  the  farm-hands,  though  also  paid  according  to  their 
increased  efficiency,  will  not  be  earning  nor  receiving  so 
much.  I  know  no  civilized  country  wherein  the  average 
wages  of  mechanics  and  manufacturers  is  not  considera- 
bly higher  than  that  of  agricultural  laborers  ;  and  I  insist 
that  my  countrymen  should  have  their  fair  proportion 
of  the  better  paid  work. 

That  Labor  is  a  commodity,  like  Cheese  or  Chocolate, 
and,  like  them,  must  be  sold  for  what  it  will  fetch,  if  sold 
at  all,  is  constantly  insisted  on  by  the  economists  I  com- 
bat, as  though  it  were  an  axiom  of  indisputable  sound- 
ness and  pertinence ;  but  I  do  not  thus  regard  it.  That, 


166  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

within  narrow  limits,  and  for  certain  restricted  uses,  it 
affirms  a  fact,  I  readily  admit.  The  man  who  has  labor 
to  sell,  and  little  else,  while  he  needs  food,  clothing, 
shelter,  and  other  comforts,  which  he  cannot  seasonably 
create  by  his  own  direct  efforts,  must  sell  that  labor  for 
the  most  it  will  bring,  even  though  that  should  be  far 
less  than  he  considers  it  worth.  But,  in  the  contempla- 
tion of  a  generous,  far-seeing  statesmanship,  the  laborer 
is  not  a  mere  implement  or  machine,  but  a  citizen,  a 
pillar  of  the  State,  the  present  or  prospective  head  of  a 
family,  the  parent  of  future  citizens  and  voters.  A  grave 
public  interest  demands  that  the  recompense  of  his  daily 
toil  should  be  sufficient  not  merely  to  keep  the  breath  of 
life  in  his  body  and  to  maintain  his  capacity  to  work,  but 
that  it  should  enable  him,  with  diligence  and  frugality, 
to  keep  his  children  about  him  during  the  years  of  then* 
immaturity,  clothe  them  decently,  and  educate  them  for 
usefulness  and  for  the  intelligent  and  conscientious  dis- 
charge of  the  duties  of  citizens  and  electors.  So  much, 
the  State  needs  ;  *so  much,  it  should,  for  its  own  sake, 
endeavor  to  secure.  If  we  could  undersell  the  world  in 
Iron  or  Cloth  by  means  which  kept  their  producers  igno- 
rant, ill  fed,  socially  depressed,  and  morally  degraded,  we 
could  not  afford  to  accept  a  commercial  or  industrial  ad- 
vantage on  such  terms.  Cheap  Shoes  and  Hats  are  de- 
sirable ;  but  not  at  the  cost  of  generations  of  shivering, 
famishing,  illiterate  shoemakers  and  hatters. 

Hence,  I  regard  with  apprehension  the  problem  now 
challenging  our  attention  of  Chinese  and  Japanese  Labor. 
That  I  profoundly  dissent  from  the  line  of  argument  by 
which  its  prohibition  is  usually  upheld,  need  hardly  be 
stated.  But,  if  millions  of  "  coolies "  are  to  be  thrust 
upon  us  merely  because  their  labor  is  cheap,  —  are  to 
remain  among  us  uneducated,  unenfranchised,  unassimi- 
lated  foreigners  and  strangers,  to  whom  our  responsibility 


THE   LABORING   CLASS  —  ITS  INTEREST.  167 

ends  with  the  payment  of  their  stipulated  wages,  —  then 
I  hold  that  their  cheap  labor  will  prove  in  the  end  dearer 
than  any  other,  because  obtained  by  the  sacrifice  of  those 
vital  principles  on  which  this  republic  was  founded,  and 
lacking  which  it  must  cease  to  be  a  beacon  and  a  bless- 
ing to  mankind. 

III.  Manufactures,  by  proffering  a  diversity  of  em- 
ployments, and  by  bringing  markets  to  the  doors  of  the 
farmers,  increase  the  average  recompense  of  agricultural 
labor.  This  proposition,  intrinsically  probable,  is  sus- 
tained by  myriads  of  facts. 

In  the  years  of  my  earliest  distinct  recollections  (1816  - 
20),  there  were  a  very  few  cotton-mills  in  Massachusetts 
and  Rhode  Island,  but  not  enough  to  affect  the  genei'al 
recompense  of  labor,  and  none  at  all  within  a  day's  ride 
of  my  home  in  southern  New  Hampshire.  What  is  now 
Lowell  was  then  a  sterile,  partially  wooded  tract,  where 
a  few  fishermen  had  their  cabins  and  dried  their  nets  ; 
there  was  one  store,  but  no  factory,  where  now  is  Nashua, 
N.  H.  ;  while  a  rickety,  old,  lop-sided  bridge  over  the 
Merrimac,  closely  approached  by  a  pitch-pine  forest,  oc- 
cupied the  site  of  what  is  now  the  manufacturing  city  of 
Manchester,  N.  H.  Lawrence,  Mass.,  was  not  even  con- 
ceived till,  at  least  twenty  years  afterward ;  but  Lowell, 
the  pioneer,  was  laid  out  soon  after  1820.  In  1818,  I 
knew  an  efficient,  faithful,  capable  man  to  hire  out  to 
work  through  the  haying  and  harvest  season  in  Bedford, 
N.  H.,  for  half  a  bushel  of  corn  per  day ;  lodging  in  his 
own  house,  but  boarding  with  his  employer.  An  Ameri- 
can young  woman,  vigorous,  capable,  and  respected,  did 
housework  for  that  year  for  fifty  cents  per  week  and  her 
board  ;  whereas  just  such  labor  would  now  command  there 
three  dollars  per  week  and  board,  from  twenty  eager  com- 
petitors. I  am  confident  that,  though  British  goods  were 
then  sold  remarkably  cheap,  most  fabrics  required  for 
female  apparel  were  dearer  then  than  they  now  are. 


168  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

In  Vermont,  for  the  five  years  1821-25  inclusive,  the 
price  of  a  man's  labor,  except  during  the  Summer  har- 
vest, was  regularly  fifty  cents  per  day,  and  even  that  very 
seldom  payable  in  money.  Food  was  then  much  cheaper 
than  now,  so  that  the  fifty  cents  bought  nearly  as  much 
bread  and  meat  as  the  price  of  a  day's  work  now  does ; 
but  of  cloth,  sugar,  and  store-goods  generally,  it  would 
hardly  buy  half  so  much. 

I  state  these  facts,  not  to  prove  labor  ill  paid  then,  or 
too  well  paid  now,  but  to  show  that  the  greater  diversifi- 
cation of  our  industry  secured  by  Protection  has  decided- 
ly improved  the  average  condition  of  our  Laboring  Class, 
whose  wages  will  be  found  lowest  wherever  agriculture 
is  most  exclusively  pursued.  If  the  Cotton  grown  in 
Georgia  or  Alabama  were  henceforth  to  be  spun  and 
woven  on  her  soil,  it  would  not  be  possible  to  resist  a 
general  and  very  decided  enhancement  of  the  average 
recompense  of  her  labor.  The  manufacturers  would  be 
no  more  generous  than  the  farmers  or  planters  now  are  : 
they  would  pay  higher  wages  because  they  must ;  and 
the  farmers,  with  more  remunerative  markets  brought  to 
their  doors,  could  not  help  doing  likewise. 

IV.  All  over  the  civilized  world,  Hired  Labor,  finding 
its  food  grow  dearer  by  reason  of  the  recent  deluge  of 
gold  from  California  and  Australia,  is  struggling  to 
achieve  or  to  maintain  a  corresponding  augmentation  of 
wages.  This  movement  is  naturally  resisted  by  those 
who  must  pay  the  wages ;  and  their  most  potent  argu- 
ment runs  thus  :  "  I  cannot  pay  four  shillings  per  day 
for  labor  in  England,  when  I  must  sell  my  product  in 
free  competition  with  that  of  French  rivals  who  pay  but 
three,  and  Belgian  who  pay  but  two  shillings."  Thus 
the  reduction  or  abrogation  of  Duties  on  Imports  is 
made  to  justify  resistance  to  reasonable  alike  with  un- 
reasonable demands  for  an  increase  of  wages  ;  every  em- 


THE  LABORING   CLASS  —  ITS  .INTEREST.         169 

ployer  looking  to  the  lowest  sum  anywhere  paid  as  the 
standard  which  he  cannot  afford  to  exceed,  and  making 
a  reduction  anywhere  his  ground  for  demanding  a  corre- 
sponding reduction  in  his  concern.  The  helplessness  of 
the  Laboring  Class  in  one  country  compelling  them  to 
submit  to  a  reduction  in  deference  to  the  master's  plea, 
"  I  cannot  else  retain  this  or  that  foreign  market,"  that 
reduction  is  made  the  excuse  for  a  corresponding  de- 
mand in  another  country,  and  that  in  another,  till  the 
vicious  circle  is  complete.  Free  Trade  in  effect  sets  the 
Laboring  Class  of  different  countries  to  bidding  against 
and  underworking  each  other  for  each  other's  markets, 
as  well  as  for  those  of  other  countries  wherein  they  meet 
as  competitors  on  equal  terms.  Contemplating  this 
ruinous  struggle,  Carlyle  l  forcibly,  manfully  says  :  — 

"  The  Continental  people,  it  would  seem,  are  importing  our 
machinery,  beginning  to  spin  cotton,  and  manufacture  for 
themselves,  to  cut  us  out  of  this  market,  and  then  out  of 
that.  Sad  news,  indeed ;  but  irremediable  :  by  no  means  the 
saddest  news.  The  saddest  news  is  that  we  should  find  our 
National  Existence,  as  I  sometimes  hear  it  said,  depend  on 
selling  manufactured  cotton  at  a  farthing  an  ell  cheaper 
than  any  other  People.  A  most  narrow  stand  for  a  great 
nation  to  base  itself  on  !  A  stand  which,  with  all  the  Corn- 
Law  Abrogations  conceivable,  I  do  not  think  will  be  capable 
of  enduring." 

That  the  existence  of  a  nation  should  never  be  per- 
mitted to  depend  on  its  ability  to  sell  Sheeting  or  Calico 
a  farthing  an  ell  cheaper  than  other  nations  can  make  it, 
seems  as  clear  to  me  as  to  Carlyle  ;  but  I  do  not  rest 
there.  I  insist  that  a  nation  whose  resources  are  fully 
developed,  and  its  industry  brought  to  the  highest  state 
of  efficiency,  ought  to  be  in  better  business  than  that 
of  underworking  and  underselling  the  comparatively  im- 

1  Past  and  Present. 
8 


170  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

mature,  feeble,  struggling  industries  of  younger  and  less 
civilized  peoples ;  that  it  should  rather  seek  to  teach,  to 
encourage,  and  to  develop  the  arts  of  peace  among  those 
peoples,  than  by  ruthless  and  unequal  competition  to 
strike  them  down  and  crush  them  ovit.  I  cannot  regard 
the  antagonist  theory  and  policy  commended  by  the  Free- 
Traders  as  in  full  accord  with  the  requirements  of  the 
Golden  Rule. 

In  my  conception,  the  true  and  ultimate  relation  cf 
the  Laboring  Class  of  one  country  to  that  of  another  — 
of  all  others  —  is  not  that  of  underworking  rivals,  seek- 
ing to  take  the  bread  from  the  mouths  of  each  othei-'s 
children,  but  that  of  generous,  fraternal  cooperators  for 
the  attainment  of  the  highest  good  for  each  and  all.  If 
it  were  practicable,  at  my  discretion,  through  invention, 
machinery,  the  aggregation  of  capital,  talent,  experience, 
and  skill,  for  the  artisans  of  my  country  to  undersell 
and  run  out  the  artisans  of  all  other  countries,  so  that 
all  manufactures  should  be  gradually  transferred  to  and 
thenceforth  prosecuted  only  on  our  soil,  I  would  not 
speak  the  word  that  would  insure  such  transfer.  I  be- 
lieve that  the  true  interest  of  all  peoples  requires  the 
successful,  enduring  prosecution  of  the  various  useful 
arts  by  each ;  so  that  the  genius,  talent,  capacity,  of 
the  entire  race  shall  be  constantly  incited  to  invent  ma- 
chinery and  improve  processes  which  shall  enure  to  the 
substantial  and  permanent  benefit  of  the  entire  family 
of  Man. 


THE  INTEREST   OF   CONSUMERS  —  IRON.         171 

XIII. 
THE  INTEREST  OF  CONSUMERS  —  IRON. 

IN  my  contemplation  of  our  general  theme,  I  do  not, 
with  many  others,  divide  the  community  into  two  di- 
verse, sharply  discriminated  classes,  antagonized  as  Pro- 
ducers and  Consumers  respectively.  In  my  conception, 
all  who  are  of  any  account  are  both  Producers  and  Con- 
sumers, with  substantially  identical  interests,  suffering 
by  each  other's  misfortunes  and  prospering  through  each 
other's  prosperity.  I  was  once  a  laborer  for  wages ;  I 
now  pay  wages  rather  than  receive  them  ;  yet  I  cannot 
realize  that  it  is  less  my  interest  now  than  it  formerly 
was  that  a  fair  day's  work  should  command  a  fair  day's 
wages.  For,  since  I  live  by  making  newspapers,  for 
which  a  wide,  capacious  market  is  indispensable,  I  know 
that  a  reduction  of  the  great  body  of  our  people  to  a 
pecuniary  condition  akin  to  that  of  the  coolies  of  east- 
ern Asia,  or  even  that  of  the  peasantry  of  Europe, 
would  preclude  their  buying,  to  any  considerable  extent, 
newspapers,  or  books,  or  any  literary  wares  whatever ;  so 
that  my  loss,  by  the  extensive  cheapening  of  Hired  La- 
bor, would  decidedly  overbalance  my  gain.  I  can  better 
afford  to  pay  fair,  living  wages  for  the  labor  I  need  than 
to  obtain  it  far  cheaper  at  the  cost  of  restricting  the 
market  for  my  products  to  the  comparatively  small  class 
who  are  able  to  live  on  their  inherited  or  accumulated 
wealth.  And  my  case  is  substantially  that  of  all  who 
live  by  selling  the  products  of  their  industry  to  satisfy 
the  wants  of  others,  and  thus  to  minister  to  their  own. 
It  may  seem,  indeed,  that  those  who  grow  food,  or  who 


172  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

produce  any  other  of  the  first  necessaries  of  life,  are  ex- 
empt from  the  operation  of  this  law  ;  but  in  fact  they  are 
not.  Their  market  is  enlarged,  the  prices  they  receive  are 
signally  enhanced,  by  the  diversion  of  multitudes,  who 
would  naturally  have  been  their  competitoi-s,  into  pursuits 
which  render  them  lifelong  customers  instead.  The 
inevitable  enhancement  of  the  price  commanded  by 
farms  in  a  township  or  county,  consequent  upon  the 
establishment  and  vigorous  prosecution  of  manufactures 
or  mining  therein,  is  a  familiar  exemplification  of  this 
law.  A  new  industry  will  often  give  value  even  to 
boulders  or  rugged  ledges  of  granite,  which  had  pre- 
viously been  not  merely  worthless,  but  a  positive  draw- 
back, subtracting  from  the  value  of  the  lands  on  which 
they  were  found.  Thus,  a  forest,  which  the  owner  was 
slowly,  patiently  destroying  by  axe  and  fire,  at  a  cost  of 
twenty  to  thirty  dollars  per  acre,  has  been  suddenly 
transformed  into  a  considerable  property,  by  the  erection 
of  a  furnace  or  factory,  the  construction  of  a  railroad, 
in  its  vicinity.  Thus,  many  substances,  once  deemed 
worthless,  have  become  valuable  through  the  mere  pro- 
gress of  industry,  knowledge,  civilization  ;  as  many  more, 
doubtless,  will  do  as  mankind  grows  wiser.  Thus,  mines 
of  Coal  and  of  Minerals,  over  which  savages  have 
roamed  heedlessly  for  centuries,  are  discovered  and 
worked  by  their  civilized  successors,  proving  almost  in- 
exhaustible sources  of  comfort,  power,  and  wealth. 

There  be  those  who  say  :  "  Let  us  continue  to  draw  our 
Metals,  as  well  as  our  Wares  and  Fabrics,  mainly  from 
Europe,  because  Labor  and  Capital  are  so  cheap  there 
that  the  products  of  British  mines  can  be  laid  as  rails 
across  our  richest  beds  of  Coal  and  Iron  Ore  far  cheaper 
than  we  can  make  thence  the  rails  we  need."  It  seems 
to  me  that  the  cheapness  here  asserted  is  fallacious,  mis- 
taken, illusory.  Admit  that  fewer  dollars  will  buy  from 


THE  INTEREST   OF   CONSUMERS  —  IRON.         173 

Great  Britain  the  rails  required,  they  will  cost,  in  my 
view,  far  more  of  our  Labor  than  would  similar  rails 
made  from  our  own  ore  on  our  own  soil.  For  every  ton 
of  rails  made  here  tends  to  increase  the  capacity,  skill, 
experience,  whereby  our  people  are  enabled  to  make 
better  and  cheaper  rails  through  all  future  time,  and  to 
grade  the  ways  over  which  our  diverse  materials  ap- 
proach and  mingle  with  each  other.  The  cheapness  of 
British  Iron  is  in  good  part  the  result  of  British  skill 
and  knowledge  evinced  in  the  commingling  of  diverse 
ores  so  as  to  produce  a  metal  of  far  greater  value  than 
could  have  been  obtained  from  either  of  those  ores 
smelted  by  itself.  Great  Britain  has  for  years  been  so 
thoroughly  gridironed  and  checkered  by  railroads  and 
canals  that  such  commingling  is  far  more  easily  and 
cheaply  effected  on  her  soil  than  elsewhere ;  but  we  are 
profiting  by  her  example  and  following  swiftly  in  her 
footsteps.  It  is  but  a  few  years  since  the  vast  deposits 
of  choice  Iron  Ore  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Superior 
were  reached  by  a  railroad  ;  and  already  they  are  exten- 
sively drawn  upon  to  produce  Iron  not  only  in  Michigan 
(near  Detroit),  but  in  Illinois  (at  Chicago),  and  for  steel- 
making  at  Pittsburg,  until  at  length,  Indiana  —  which 
boasts  the  possession  of  7,500  square  miles  of  better 
Coal  for  Iron-making  than  is  found  elsewhere  —  has 
been  prompted  to  erect  great  furnaces  near  Greencastle, 
at  Indianapolis,  and  perhaps  in  other  localities,  where 
her  numerous  railroads  may  cheaply  concentrate  the 
Coal  of  her  southwestern  counties  and  the  Ore  of  Lake 
Superior,  beside  the  Limestone  which  extensively  under- 
lies her  soil,  and  thus  produce  (she  calculates)  a  very 
superior  Pig  Iron  at  a  very  moderate  cost,  though  the 
Ore  has  travelled  hundreds  of  miles  to  meet  her  Coal 
rather  more  than  half-way.  So  St.  Louis  is  making  con- 
siderable Pig  Iron  ;  drawing  by  rail  to  herself  the  Coal 


174  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

of  southern  Illinois  from  the  soxitheast,  to  smelt  the  Ore 
.  of  the  Iron  Mountain  from  the  southwest ;  and  she  ex- 
pects to  make  much  more,  and  to  better  advantage,  when 
she  shall  have  completed  her  bridge  over  the  Mississippi, 
so  that  the  Coal  may  be  run  by  rail  from  the  mines  di- 
rectly to  her  furnaces.  Thus,  on  every  side  we  are  per- 
fecting the  conditions  whereby  Iron  can  be  cheapened, 
as  we  could  not  perfect  them  in  the  absence  of  a  market 
for  American  Iron.  The  railroad  whereby  Ore  is  brought 
from  Lake  Superior  would  not  have  been  built  in  the 
absence  of  a  demand  for  that  Ore  ;  and  so  with  that 
which  is  destined  to  bring  the  Iron  Mountain  piecemeal 
to  St.  Louis.  We  shall  thus  erelong  have  cheaper 
American  Iron  without  reducing  our  makers  to  European 
wages,  if  we  have  but  the  foresight  and  patience  to  seek 
it  aright,  and  not  repeat  the  blunder  of  1846,  when  a 
Protective  Tariff  was  broken  down  under  which  we  were 
supplying  ourselves  with  American  Bar  at  less  than  $  60 
per  ton,  while,  after  a  few  years  of  Revenue  Tariff,  we 
were  buying  British  bars  at  $80  per  ton.1 

Yet  I  would  not  induce  a  belief  that  Iron  will  ever  be 
made  in  this  country  for  so  few  dollars  per  ton  in  the  aver- 
age as  will  buy  it  from  Europe  while  the  disparity  in  the 
ordinary  wages  of  labor  shall  remain  so  great  as  at  present. 
A  ton  of  Iron  embodies  so  many  days'  labor  in  quarry- 
ing or  digging,  smelting,  puddling,  &c.,  &c.,  and  very 
little  else  than  Labor  directly  applied  to  its  production ; 
and  all  know  that  this  labor  is  very  much  cheaper  in 
Europe  than  here.  Take  all  the  work  done  in  producing  a 
thousand  tons  of  Iron  in  this  country,  and  its  average  cost 
will  fall  little  short  of  two  dollars  in  gold  for  each  day's 
faithful  labor  ;  while  Mr.  Abram  S.  Hewitt 2  gives  statis- 

1  Address  of  John  L.  Hayes  to  the  National  Association  of  Knit 
Goods'  Manufacturers,  New  York,  Slay  1,  1867. 

2  U.  S.  Commissioner  to  the  last  Universal  Exposition  of  the  Pro- 
ducts of  the  World's  Industry,  at  Paris,  1867. 


THE   INTEREST   OF   CONSUMERS  —  IRON.         175 

tics  of  the  wages  of  Labor  employed  in  Iron-making  in 
Europe,  showing  that  in  England  its  average  cost  ranges 
trom  3s.  6d.  to  4s.,  or  87£  cents  to  $  1  (gold)  per  day  :  in 
France  at  about  70  cents,  and  in  Belgium  at  less  than  60 
cents  per  day.  But  England  has  the  advantage  of  her 
Continental  rivals  in  the  greater  abundance  and  accessi- 
bility of  her  Ores  and  Coal ;  so  that  she  makes  Iron,  in 
the  main,  cheaper  than  they  can ;  the  average  cost  of 
merchant  bars  being  stated  by  Mr.  Hewitt  as  follows  :  — 

In  England,  £  6  10s.  or  $  32 \  (gold)  per  ton. 
In  Belgium,  £7  or  $  35    (gold)  per  ton. 

In  France,     £  8  or  $  40    (gold)  per  ton. 

[It  should  be  noted  that  women  and  children  are  exten- 
sively employed  in  mining  operations  in  Great  Britain,  at  pri- 
ces far  below  the  cost  of  similar  labor  performed  by  men,  and 
that  the  product  is  thereby  considerably  cheapened.] 

Now,  I  believe  that  improvements  and  economies  are 
soon  to  be  realized  which  will  considerably  reduce  the 
cost  and  price  of  Iron  ;  but,  as  these  will  be  universally 
diffused,  I  do  not  suppose  we  shall  make  Iron  so  cheaply 
here  as  it  can  be  made  in  Europe,  so  long  as  labor  there 
costs  less  than  half  the  price  of  similar  labor  here.  A 
ton  of  Pig  Iron  embodying  a  good  fortnight's  work,  — 
part  of  it  skilled,  or  high-priced  labor,  —  on  either  con- 
tinent, I  judge  that  it  must  continue  to  cost  more  where 
such  labor  is  worth  two  dollars  per  day  than  where  it 
averages  from  sixty  cents  to  one  dollar  per  day. 

Better  authorities  dissent  from  this  conclusion.  The 
Hon.  Daniel  J.  Morrell,  M.  C.,1  in  his  testimony  before 
the  U.  S.  Revenue  Commission,  1866,  says  :  — 

"  If  British  cheap  labor  were  out  of  the  way  for  twenty- 
five  years,  we  could  so  attract  their  skilled  labor,  and  so 
nearly  rival  them  in  the  advantages  of  capital,  that  we  should 

1  Superintendent  of  the  great  rail-producing  "  Cambria  Iron  Com- 
pany"; Johnstown,  Penn. 


176  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

need  no  Protection.  Indeed,  I  would  engage  to  export  rails 
to  the  British  dominions  at  a  profit,  if  we  could  have  our  own 
market  for  that  time.  I  feel  certain  that  such  a  measure 
would  not  impair,  but  would  greatly  increase,  the  revenue. 
The  fully  employed  and  well-rewarded  labor  of  the  land 
would,  in  a  thousand  ways,  be  able  to  contribute  to  the  in- 
come of  the  Government,  and  more  than  make  up  for  the  loss 

of  duties  on  imported  Iron 

"  Any  branch  of  American  manufacture  that  has  received 
Protection,  adequate  to  secure  it  the  home  market,  in  the 
past,  has  soon  demonstrated  its  superiority  of  product,  and 
has  been  enabled  to  compete,  on  equal  terms,  with  foreign 
manufactures." 

This  seems  to  me  too  sweeping,  though  the  rule  indi- 
cated will  generally  hold  good.  A  recent  British  report 
(from  Birmingham)  seems  more  discriminating  and  accu- 
rate, in  maintaining  that,  wherever  ingenuity  and  the 
substitution  of  machinery  or  steam-power  for  manual 
labor  can  be  made  to  tell  decisively,  there  American  in- 
telligence and  capacity  assert  their  preeminence  ;  but 
where  (as  in  Iron)  a  product  costs  so  many  blows  with 
sledge  or  hammer,  —  in  other  words,  so  much  muscular 
exertion,  —  there,  the  relative  cheapness  of  European 
labor  makes  itself  decisively  felt.  I  incline,  therefore, 
to  concur  generally  in  the  reasoning  on  this  point  of  Mr. 
Hewitt,1  who  says  :  — 

"  It  is  obvious  that  the  abnormal  rates  for  labor  which  we 
have  been  considering  cannot  prevail  in  any  one  branch  of 
industry  alone,  but  must  extend  to  all ;  as  labor,  like  water, 
must  seek  a  general  level  in  each  community  governed  by  the 
same  laws,  and  subjected  to  the  same  influences.  All  articles 
of  commerce  are,  therefore,  produced  below  their  normal 
cost,  —  that  is,  the  cost  which  would  be  possible  if  the  funda- 
mental laws  of  humanity  were  not  violated  in  the  employment 

1  Paris  Universal  Exposition,  1867.  Reports  of  the  United  States 
Commissioners.  The  Production  of  Iron  and  Steel  in  its  Economic 
and  Social  Relations,  by  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  United  States  Commissioner. 


THE  INTEREST   OF   CONSUMERS  —  IRON.         177 

of  women  and  children,  and  the  payment  of  a  rate  of  wages 
to  the  common  laborer  inadequate  for  the  proper  support  and 
culture  of  the  family.  In  those  commodities  which  require 
in  the  United  States  more  human  labor  for  their  production 
than  is  necessary  in  Europe,  where  labor  is  so  inadequately 
paid,  we  have  perhaps  no  other  interest  than  a  general  con- 
cern in  the  welfare  of  the  human  race ;  but,  so  far  as  Iron  is 
concerned,  from  the  fact  that  we  can  produce  it  with  as  little' 
consumption  of  human  labor  as  any  other  nation  in  the  world, 
the  case  is  different,  because  there  is  no  absolute  loss  of  wealth, 
and  no  misapplied  power  in  its  production ;  and  the  only 
question  to  be  discussed  is,  whether  it  shall  be  taken  out  of 
the  general  category  of  manufactures  not  so  favorably  placed 
as  to  the  cost  of  production,  and  by  positive  legislation  placed 
in  the  same  condition  as  it  would  have  occupied  with  refer- 
ence to  foreign  competition,  if  the  rate  of  wages  in  other 
countries  had  never  been  reduced  below  their  normal  stand- 
ard. We  have  seen  that  the  cost  of  making  Iron  in  Eng- 
land, Belgium,  and  France,  at  the  present  time,  varies  from 
£  6  10  s.  to  £  8  per  ton,  and  £  1  additional  suffices  to  pay  its 
cost  of  transportation  to  the  seaboard  of  the  United  States. 
At  these  ports,  American  Iron  cannot  possibly  be  delivered 
at  a  less  cost  than  $  60  in  gold,  against  $  40  in  gold  for  the 
foreign  article,  and  the  entire  difference  consists  in  the  higher 
wages,  and  not  the  larger  quantity  of  labor,  required  for  its  pro- 
duction in  the  United  Slates,  where  the  physical,  mental,  and 
moral  condition  of  the  working  classes  occupy  a  totally  dif- 
ferent standard  from  their  European  confreres,  and  where  the 
wages  cannot  be  reduced  without  violating  our  sense  of  the 
just  demands  of  human  nature.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  to  be 
observed  that  the  business  is  so  far  overdone  in  Europe  that 
no  profit  can  be  realized  by  the  capitalist  except  in  special 
cases,  for  which  adequate  reasons  can  be  given.  The  actual 
remedy  for  this  over-production  would  be  to  withdraw  the 
women  and  children,  as  we  do,  from  this  class  of  industry, 
whereby  the  production  must  be  reduced,  the  rate  of  wages 
raised,  the  cost  and  the  selling  price  increased,  capital  become 
remunerative,  and  the  ability  to  procure  iron,  made  cheap 
by  its  adulteration  with  the  violated  laws  of  humanity,  be 
8*  L 


178  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

forever  extinguished.  To  what  result  the  general  discussion 
which  this  subject  is  now  receiving  in  Europe  will  lead,  it  is 
not  easy  to  decide ;  but  it  is  a  curious  phenomenon  to  listen 
in  France  to  the  loud  complaints,  which  are  made  against  the 
competition  of  Belgium  in  the  manufacture  of  -iron,  and, 
stranger  still,  in  England  to  the  same  complaint,  and  the  broad 
declaration  that  it  will  not  be  possible  to  do  anything  for  the 
education  and  elevation  of  the  working  classes  without  expos- 
ing their  manufacturers  to  ruin  in  consequence  of  the  compe- 
tition with  the  worse-paid  and  worse-fed  labor  of  Belgium. 
The  truth  is  that  the  whole  system  is  false,  and  now,  when 
pressed  by  the  energy,  enterprise,  and  competition,  of  the  age 
to  its  legitimate  results,  Humanity  is  in  rebellion,  and  there  is 
a  general  cry  from  all  classes  —  laborers,  employers,  philan- 
thropists, philosophers,  and  statesmen,  alike  —  for  relief.  The 
necessity  for  this  relief  becomes  painfully  apparent  when  the 
poor-law  returns  made  in  England  are  carefully  examined, 
from  which  it  is  evident  that  there  is  an  army  of  paupers 
pressing  upon  the  occupations  of  the  common  laborer,  and 
striving  to  push  him  over  the  almost  insensible  line  which 
divides  these  two  classes  from  each  other.  It  is  not  possible 
that  the  laborer  should  receive  more  than  bare  subsistence- 
wages,  and  there  can  be  no  relief  for  his  patient  suffering,  so 
long  as  there  are  thousands  who,  unable  to  earn  any  wages  at 
all,  stand  ready  to  fill  up  every  gap  in  the  ranks  of  industry ; 
and  to  the  honest  laborer  himself,  standing  on  the  edge  of 
this  line,  over  which  he  is  liable  at  any  moment  to  be  forced 
into  the  ranks  of  pauperism,  the  anxiety  and  miserable  state 
of  uncertainty  for  himself  and  his  family  must  be  fatal  to  all 
rational  happiness,  and  is  well  calculated  to  drive  him  into 
vicious  indulgences  and  temporary  excesses  whenever  a  tran- 
sient opportunity  is  afforded,  as  a  momentary  relief  from  a 
condition  of  hopeless  misery." 

If  there  be  those  who  hold  that  American  Labor 
should  be  reduced  to  compete  on  equal  terms  with  such 
as  Mr.  Hewitt  here  depicts,  I  decidedly  disagree  with 
them.  But  I  do  not  less  emphatically  differ  from  the 
conclusion  of  those  who  say,  "  Since  European  Labor 


THE  INTEREST   OF   CONSUMERS  —  IRON.          179 

is  so  much  cheaper  than  ours,  let  us  profit  by  that  cheap- 
ness to  obtain  our.  Metals,  Wares  and  Fabrics,  of  Europe 
at  lower  prices  than  we  must  pay  for  them  if  made  on 
our  own  soil."  I  hold  those  low  prices  to  be  :  — 

1.  Illusory  (as  I  have  hitherto  shown),  in  that  the 
Foreign  products  cost  more  in  our  labor  or  its  fruits, 
though  less   in  money,   than   the   home-made.     If  we 
analyze  the  process  of  paying  for  a  quantity  of  Home 
Manufactures,  we  find  that  a  large  part  of  the  payment 
is   made   in   articles  which    would   have   no   value,  or 
very    little,    if    our   workshops    were    still   mainly  in 
Europe. 

2.  Capricious,  in  that  the  prices  we  pay  for  European 
products  which  we  rival  here  are  far  less  than   they 
would  be  in  the  absence  of  such  rivalry. 

3.  Pernicious,  in  that  our  preferring  the  products  of 
underpaid  to  those  of  fairly  recompensed  Labor  tends  to 
reduce  the  compensation  of  Labor  and  the  status  of  the 
Laboring    Class    in   our   country    and   throughout   the 
world ;  and 

4.  Unpatriotic,  in  that  the  inventions  and  labor-saving 
processes  which  the  ingenuity,  capacity  and  intelligence, 
of   our    countrymen    are    constantly  making   in    every 
field  of  useful  effort  they  occupy,  will  be  lost  to  our 
country  and  to  mankind,  if  we  surrender  that  field  to 
the  unfair  rivalry  of  cheap  European  Labor. 

"  But  you  Protectionists,"  we  are  told,  "  are  con- 
tinually crying  '  More  !  More  ! '  You  are  like  the  horse- 
leech's daughters  stigmatized  by  the  prophet,  who  cry 
'  Give  !  Give  ! '  and  are  never  satisfied."  Let  us  see  : — 

I  have  before  me  a  tabular  exhibit  of  the  duties 
levied  on  the  most  important  articles  by  the  several 
Tariffs  passed  by  the  friends  of  Protection  from  1816 
inclusive.  Here  are  the  rates  levied  by  them  respec- 
tively on  Iron :  — 


180  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 


Tariff  of 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

1816. 

1824. 

1828. 

1832. 

1842. 

1861. 

Pig,  per  ton, 

$9 

$12* 

$12* 

$12* 

$9 

$9 

Kolled  Bar, 

30 

37 

30 

30~ 

25 

25 

Nails,  per  Ib. 

3  cts. 

5  cts. 

5  cts. 

Sets. 

4  cts. 

2*  cts. 

Hence  it  will  be  seen  that  not  only  are  the  average 
duties  on  Iron  lower  this  day  than  they  were  fixed  by 
the  Lowndes-Calhoun  Tariff  of  1816,  but  Pig  Iron  — 
the  lowest  and  rudest  condition  of  the  metal  —  that 
which  is  simply  rugged  Human  Labor  in  a  concrete 
form  —  is  admitted  at  as  low  a  duty  under  the  present 
Tariff  as  under  that  of  1816,  or  under  any  of  those  since 
passed  by  the  friends  of  Protection.  The  effort  of  the 
Free-Traders  to  confuse  the  public  mind  with  regard  to 
these  facts  by  diluting  the  present  duty  into  its  Green- 
back equivalent,  so  as  to  call  it  twelve  dollars  or  over 
per  ton,  is  contemptible.  The  duty  is  levied  and  com- 
puted in  precisely  the  same  currency  (coin)  to-day  as 
under  all  former  Tariffs ;  the  nine-dollar  duty  per  ton 
paid  to-day  on  imported  Pig  Iron  is  exactly  the  same 
per  ton  as  that  imposed  by  Mr.  Lowndes's  Tariff  of 
1816;  while  other  duties  on  Iron  are  lower.  No  other 
item  in  the  present  Tariff  has  been  more  fiercely  or 
frequently  assailed  than  the  duty  on  Pig  Iron ;  and 
there  is  a  wide-spread  impression  that.it  is  higher  now 
than  ever  before  ;  yet  above  are  the  facts.  And,  while 
the  duty  is  lower  to-day  than  under  our  former  Tariffs, 
such  has  been  the  progress  and  improvement  of  our 
Iron  industry  that  we  now  import  but  one  ton  of  Pig- 
iron  for  every  dozen  to  twenty  tons  that  we  make  at 
home,  —  proving  that  American  Pig  is  very  decidedly 
cheaper  than  British  with  the  duty  added.  And  Com- 
missioner Wells's  last  Report,  in  which  the  duty  on  Pig 
Iron  is  assailed  as  exorbitant,  pernicious,  destructive, 
shows  that  our  annual  product  of  Pig  Iron  is  largely 


THE  INTEREST   OF   CONSUMERS  —  IRON.         181 

and  constantly  increasing,  while  that  of  our  European 
rivals  is  stationary  or  declining.  I  quote  his  tabular 
exhibit  entire,  though  it  is  obvious  that  his  estimate  of 
our  production  for  18681  is  far  below  the  truth  :  — 

ANNUAL   PRODUCT  OP  AMERICAN  PIG  IRON  FROM  '63  TO  '68. 


Years. 

Tons. 

Annual  Incre 

1863     . 

947,604 

1864 

1,135,497 

19.82  per  cent. 

1866    . 

1,351,143 

9.50 

1867 

1,447,771 

7.16         " 

1868    (estimated) 

1,550,000 

7.06         « 

For  the  seven  years  from  1860  (when  the  production 
was  913,770  tons)  to  1867,  the  average  annual  increase 
has  been  8.35  per  cent.  This  increase  is  in  excess  of 
the  present  average  annual  increase  of  the  Pig  Iron 
product  of  Great  Britain,  which,  since  1863,  has  been  as 
follows  :  — 

Years.  Tons.  Increase. 

18G3     .         .         .     4,510,040 

1864  .        .        4,767,951  5.71  per  cent. 

1865  .        .        .     4,819,254  1.08 

Decrease. 

1866  .        .        4,523,897  6.50  per  cent. 

In  France,  the  annual  product  of  Pig  Iron  was,  in 
1866,  1,253,100  tons,  and  in  1867,  1,142,800  tons: 
showing  a  decline  of  110,300  tons. 

In  Austria,  the  official  returns  of  the  Iron  trade  show 
a  diminution  of  42  per  cent,  in  1866  as  compared  with 
1860,  and  of  60  per  cent.'  as  compared  with  1862. 

I  will  now  add  some  statistics  of  our  Iron  Imports, 
compiled  from  the  last  Annual  Report  of  Francis  A. 

1  "  We  find  that  the  grand  total  production  of  Iron  from  the  ore  in 
1868  was  1,640,600  tons."  —  Annual  Report  of  the  American  Iron  and 
Steel  Association  for  1868. 


182  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

Walker,1  showing  the  amount  and  chai'acter  of  those 
Imports  for  the  last  calendar  year  (1868)  inclusive  :  — 

Description.  Duty.  Declared  Value. 

Pig  Iron,  .  .  $9  per  ton,  .  .  $1,740,124 
Castings,  .  .  part  30  per  ct.  and  part  specific,  28,801 
Bar  Iron,  .  .  1  cent  per  Ib.  .  .  2,766,067 
Boiler  Iron,  .  .  1£  cts.  per  Ib.  .  .  .  72,097 
Band,  Hoop  and  Scroll,  1^  @  If  cts.  per  Ib.  .  341,765 
Railroad  bars  or  rails,  $  14  per  ton,  .  .  .  5,348,352 

j  polished,  3  /cts.  Ib.       ) 
Sheet  Iron,         .        .     ^lain>  U'@  lf  cts.lb.  [        764,391 

Old  and  Scrap,       .  $  8  per  ton,       .  .         .  2,039,293 

Hardware,          .        .  3£  cts.  per  Ib.  .        .         201,894 

Anchors,    cables,    and  )  o-moi 

chains  of  all  kinds,  J  2£  cts.  per  Ib.  .        .     259,181 

Machinery,          .         .    3  cts.  per  Ib.  .         .          304,126 

Muskets,   pistols,  rifles,  )  „. 

and  sporting  guns,     '  f  35  per  ct.        .         .         .      229,550 

Steel  ingots,  sheets,  bars,  )  _, 

and  wire,        .        .     p£  @  4  cts.  per  Ib.       .       2,69o,700 

Cutlery,          .        .        45  per  ct 1,530,550 

Files,  .  .  .  30  p.  c.,  and  6  ©  lOc.  pr.  Ib.  635,916 
Saws  and  tools,  .  av.  45  per  ct.  .  .  92,247 

Manufactures    of   Iron  \ 

j  a,   7     i        -A  j  \  3o  per  cent.   .        .        .  4,757,892 
and  Steel  not  specified,  i 

Total, $  23,807,451 

[NOTE.  —  I  should  have  given  the  quantities  imported  as  well  as  the 
value,  but  the  official  returns  are  avowedly  imperfect.] 

I  have  made  out  the  above  table — stating  the  duties 
on  the  several  descriptions  as  accurately  as  I  may  (since 
Mr.  Walker's  classification  is  different  from  that  followed 
in  the  Tariff )  —  in  order  to  elucidate  the  ingenuity  and 
facility  wherewith  importers  thread  their  way  through 
the  most  stringent  and  carefully  devised  schedule  of 
duties.  We  have  been  over  forty  years  trying  to  frame 

1  Deputy  Special  Commissioner  of  Revenue. 


THE   INTEREST   OF   CONSUMERS  —  IRON.         183 

Tariff  provisions  that  would  protect  our  struggling  in- 
dustries, and  have  given  more  attention  to  Iron  manufac- 
tures than  to  any  other ;  yet  note  how  enormous  is  the 
importation  of  Old  or  Scrap  Iron,  because  the  duty  on 
that  is  comparatively  low ;  while  "  Manufactures  not 
specified,"  being  charged  an  Ad  Valorem  duty,  are  swelled 
to  the  most  ungainly  proportions.  Railroad  Iron  being 
admitted  at  a  comparatively  low  rate,  everything  that 
can  be  made  to  look  like  a  rail  seeks  admission  under 
this  head  :  so  the  three  descriptions  specified  reach  these 
staggering  dimensions :  — 

Railroad  Bars  or  Rails,  ....  $  5,348,352 

Old  or  Scrap  Iron, 2,039,293 

Manufactures  not  specified,  .  .  .  4,757,892 

Total, $  12,145,537 

All  other  Iron  and  Steel  and  Manufactures 

thereof, $  11,651,914 

The  three  kinds  above  specified  exceeding 

all  the  rest,  by  the  sum  of  .         .      $  493,623 

The  careless  public,  looking  at  the  high  rates  levied 
on  Hardware,  Machinery,  &c.,  says,  "  Surely,  these  must 
be  sufficient " ;  but  the  importer  avoids  these,  so  far  as 
possible,  by  changing  the  character  or  disguising  the  ap- 
pearance of  his  wares,  so  that  they  may  pass  under  some 
designation  which  is  subjected  to  a  lower  impost ;  and 
thus  the  Protection  afforded  is  not  what  Congress  de- 
signed, but  far  less  than  that.  The  longer  a  tariff  con- 
tinues, the  more  weak  spots  are  found,  the  more  holes 
are  picked  in  it,  until  at  last,  through  the  influence  of 
successive  evasions,  constructions,  decisions,  its  very 
father  could  not  discern  its  original  features  in  the  trans- 
formed bantling  that  has  quietly  taken  its  place.  Every 
decision,  whether  by  a  functionary  or  a  jury,  that  makes 
in  favor  of  cheap  importation,  affords  a  footing  for  new 
exertions  of  mercantile  ingenuity  and  legal  subtlety  to 


184  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

undermine  and  subvert  the  hated  barrier, — thousands 
holding  (or,  at  least,  asserting)  that  all  tariffs  are  at  war 
with  natural  right  and  public  interest,  and  so  should  be 
nullified  so  far  as  possible.  Doubtless,  the  duties  on 
Iron,  Steel,  -and  their  Manufactures,  being  so  largely 
specific,  are  more  fully  collected  than  those  on  Textile 
Fabrics,  &c.,  are  or  could  be ;  but  they  still  fall  in  fact  far 
below  what  a  simple  perusal  of  the  Tariff  would  indicate. 

That  ours  is  destined  to  be  a  great  Iron-producing  as 
well  as  Iron-working  country,  every  American  instinc- 
tively believes.  He  cannot  admit  that  God  has  filled  our 
soil  with  such  enormous  deposits  of  Ore,  Coal,  and  Lime- 
stone, to  be  forever  left  there  useless  and  unvalued, 
while  British  rails  are  laid  across  them  in  every  direc- 
tion, and  British  engines  career  thereon,  drawing  cargoes 
of  British  bars  and  British  manufactures  for  the  use  of 
the  dwellers  on  the  tributaries  of  the  Mississippi,  the 
Colorado,  and  the  San  Joaquin.  Thus,  when  Mr.  Hodg- 
skin,  an  intelligent  and  candid  Englishman  residing  in 
this  city,  recently  made  an  address  to  a  Free  Trade  meet- 
ing in  Brooklyn,  wherein  he  argued  that  we  should  buy 
our  Iron  from  Europe  because  her  low-priced  labor  ena- 
bled her  to  produce  it  much  cheaper  than  we  could,  our 
Free  Trade  journals  at  once  shrank  from  that  position ; 
choosing  to  insist  that  American  Iron  was  dear  only  be- 
cause the  present  Tariff  enabled  our  Iron-masters  to 
charge  an  exorbitant  price  for  it ! 

Such  unworthy  shifts  cannot  abide  the  test  of  time 
and  discussion.  The  price  of  Iron,  as  of  anything  else, 
is  measured  with  general  accuracy  by  the  cost  of  produ- 
cing it ;  whenever  the  profit  of  such  production  is  large, 
thousands  are  incited  thereby  to  embark  in  it ;  and  this 
tendency  cannot  be  checked  until  the  profit  falls  to  (or 
below)  the  average  of  that  realized  in  other  investments. 


THE  INTEREST   OF   CONSUMERS  —  IRON.         185 

We  shall  ultimately  prodilce  Iron  much  cheaper  than 
now,  through  the  improvement  and  perfection  of  the 
processes  by  which  we  make  it ;  and  to  such  improve- 
ment it  is  indispensable  that  our  Iron  industry  shall  be 
not  dead  but  alive.  The  unsteadiness  of  our  policy  in 
the  past  has  sadly  retarded  our  progress.  Capitalists 
hesitate  to  invest  the  vast  sums  required  to  produce 
steel  rails  (for  instance)  at  a  moderate  cost,  with  the 
sword  of  Damocles  suspended  over  their  heads  by  a 
formidable  party  intent  on  the  overthrow  of  Protection ; 
but  let  the  public  voice  be  unmistakably  heard  on  the 
right  side,  and  millions  of  capital  will  flow  into  the  va- 
rious departments  of  our  Iron  industry,  insuring  econo- 
mies unattainable  while  our  policy  shall  remain  unstable, 
precarious,  capricious.  Were  it  this  day  fixed  and  pro- 
claimed that  no  reduction  of  our  Iron  imposts  would  be 
made  during  the  next  ten  years,  mines  would  be  opened 
and  furnaces  erected  wherever  Ore  and  Coal  exist  in 
proximity  or  may  be  cheaply  brought  together ;  rolling- 
mills  and  forges  would  speedily  follow  in  their  train ; 
invention  would  be  stimulated  and  improvements  per- 
fected, until  we  should  soon  have  cheaper  Iron  through 
the  cheapening  of  the  processes,  the  increased  efficiency 
of  the  labor,  employed  to  produce  it.  That  cheapening 
would  not  be  fully  indicated  by  the  prices  ruling  in  New 
York  ;  for  that  is  the  point  where,  while  imported  Iron 
is  cheapest,  American  Iron  is  necessarily  dearer  than  at 
the  points  of  production,  hundreds  of  miles  inland,  where 
it  is  nearer  and  worth  more  to  the  great  body  of  our 
consumers  than  it  would  be  in  this  city.  A  genuine 
cheapness  is  only  attained  by  means  consistent  with  the 
just  recompense,  intellectual  enlightenment,  and  moral 
elevation,  of  the  Laboring  Class  :  we  shall  secure  the  for- 
mer without  sacrificing  the  latter  throvigh  the  judicious, 
ample,  steadfast  Protection  of  American  Industry. 


186  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 


XIV. 
PROTECTION  ILLUSTRATED  — SUGAR. 

SUGAR  has  become  the  commonest  and  most  indispen- 
sable luxury  of  civilized  man.  Consumed  and  enjoyed 
at  almost  every  meal  by  the  rich  and  great,  the  poor  are 
rarely  too  poor  to  buy  and  use  it :  in  some  cmde,  low 
form,  it  forms  a  part  of  the  daily  diet  even  of  public 
paupers  and  imprisoned  felons.  The  wildest,  rudest 
savage,  who  never  heard  of  its  existence  till  yesterday, 
finds  it  delicious,  and  gorges  it  with  avidity  ;  he  will  give 
a  buffalo-robe  or  a  beaver-skin  for  a  cupful  of  it  rather 
than  forego  its  enjoyment.  The  liking  for  Tobacco  is 
artificial,  acquired,  partial ;  but  that  which  finds  its  grati- 
fication in  saccharine  flavor  is  natural,  spontaneous,  and 
almost,  if  not  quite,  universal. 

Yet  such  gratification  was  obtained  by  our  European 
ancestors,  down  to  a  comparatively  recent  period,  only 
through  the  use  of  Honey.  The  Sugar  Maple  was  un- 
known to  them  prior  to  the  discovery  of  America,  its 
native  land  ;  the  Cane  was  still  confined  to  China,  Japan, 
India,  and  their  adjuncts ;  whence  it  was  broxight  west- 
ward by  the  conquering  Saracens,  and  planted,  not  far 
from  the  era  of  the  Norman  Conquest,  in  the  isles  of  the 
Mediterranean  when  subjected  to  their  sway  ;  whence  it 
was  afterward  diifused  by  them  into  Southern  Italy  and 
even  Spain ;  yet  it  was  not  till  after  the  discovery  of 
America  by  Columbus  that  Sugar  —  whether  the  Cane 
was  found  already  growing  in  the  tropical  isles  we  call 
West  Indies,  or  soon  carried  thither  by  the  Spaniards, 
and  there  found  a  most  congenial  soil  —  became  one  of 


PROTECTION  ILLUSTRATED  —  SUGAR.  187 

the  great  staples  of  International  Commerce,  and  was 
•welcomed  to  the  tables  of  the  merchant  and  banker  as 
well  as  to  those  of  the  noble  and  king. 

And,  though  the  fact  that  Sugar  existed  in  and  was 
chemically  extractable  from  the  Beet,  Carrot,  and  other 
edible  roots,  was  discovered  by  the  German  chemist 
Margraff  in  1747,  no  practical  benefit  was  realized  from 
that  discovery  until  after  the  close  of  the  last  century. 
Dr.  Johnson,  in  his  great  Dictionary  of  the  English  lan- 
guage [1755],  defines  as  follows  :  — 

SUGAR  :  1.  The  native  salt  of  the  Sugar  Cane,  obtained  by 
the  expression  and  evaporation  of  its  juice;  2.  Anything 
proverbially  sweet;  3.  A  chymical  dry  crystallization. 

It  is  plain  that,  broad  and  even  loose  as  are  the  second- 
ary definitions,  the  great  lexicographer  had  no  clear  con- 
ception of  the  extent  to  which  Sugar  exists  in  the  vege- 
table products  of  the  Temperate  as  well  as  in  those  of 
the  Tropical  Zone.  Ere  Noah  Webster  completed  the 
compilation  of  his  still  greater  Dictionary,  three-fourths 
of  a  century  later,  the  progress  of  human  knowledge  had 
been  such  as  enabled  him  to  give  this  far  more  accurate 
definition  :  — 

SUGAR  :  1.  A  sweet,  crystalline  substance,  obtained  from 
certain  vegetable  products,  as  the  Sugar-Cane,  Maple,  Beet, 
Sorghum,  and  the  like ;  2.  That  which  resembles  Sugar  in  taste, 
appearance,  or  the  like,  as  Sugar  of  Lead  [that  is,  acetate  of 
Lead],  so  called  because  it  has  a  close  resemblance  to  Sugar  in 
appearance,  and  tastes  sweet ;  3.  Figuratively,  compliment  or 
flattery  employed  to  disguise  or  render  acceptable  something 
obnoxious. 

The  advance  in  human  knowledge  and  efficiency  indi- 
cated by  a  comparison  of  Webster's  with  Johnson's  pri- 
mary definition  of  Sugar,  is  the  fruit  of  half  a  century 
of  determined,  stringent  Protection. 


188  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

Margraff,  an  eminent  Prussian  chemist,  gave  to  the 
world  his  discovery  of  Sugar  in  the  Beet  and  kindred 
roots,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  Berlin  Academy  of  Sci- 
ence in  1747,  as  aforesaid,  where  in  he  claimed  for  it  great 
importance  as  the  basis  of  a  new  and  beneficent  expan- 
sion of  European  industry.  No  practical  results  were 
thence  deduced,  however,  for  a  generation.  Margraff 
was  in  1773  succeeded  in  his  efforts  by  Achard,  another 
Prussian  chemist,  who  patiently  prosecuted  his  experi- 
ments until  he  was  ready  to  engage  in  practical  Beet 
culture  and  manufacture,  which  he  did  in  1789,  at  Cauls- 
dorff,  near  Berlin ;  he  having  ere  this  attracted  the  atten- 
tion and  patronage  of  that  determined  Protectionist, 
Frederick  the  Great,  by  whose  aid  he  commenced  opera- 
tions looking  to  the  production  of  Beet  Sugar.  Had 
Frederick  lived  twenty  years  longer,  the  successful  pro- 
duction of  Beet  Sugar  would  probably  have  been  achieved 
earlier  than  it  was  by  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century ;  but 
he  died  in  1786,  when  "another  king  arose,  who  knew 
not  Joseph  " ;  and  Achard  was  constrained  by  lack  of 
means  to  suspend  his  operations  for  several  years. 

He  resumed  them,  however,  before  the  close  of  the 
century,  and  with  such  sxiccess  that  he  was  encouraged 
to  publish  an  account  of  his  operations  in  1797,  followed 
by  a  letter  describing  his  processes,  which  appeared  in 
the  Annales  de  Chimie  (Pai'is)  in  1799  ;  wherein  he  in- 
sisted that  Sugar  might  be  produced  from  the  Beet  to 
any  desired  extent,  with  present  advantage  and  ultimate 
profit. 

The  seed  fell  on  good  ground.  The  victories  of  Rod- 
ney, Hood,  Nelson,  and  their  compeers  had  nearly  con- 
verted the  high  seas  into  British  lakes.  In  the  great 
wars  which  followed  the  French  Revolution  of  1789,  the 
flag  of  France,  triumphant  on  land,  had  already  been 
nearly  driven  from  the  oceans,  and  was  soon  to  be  wholly 


PROTECTION   ILLUSTRATED  —  SUGAR.  189 

excluded  therefrom.  Tropical  produce  was  already  scarce 
and  dear  in  the  French  Republic ;  Trafalgar  and  British 
"  Orders  in  Council "  were  soon  to  render  them  still  more 
so.  France,  while  giving  law  to  the  Continent,  revolted 
at  the  thought  of  sweetening  her  coffee  only  by  the  gra- 
cious permission  of  the  British  oligarchy.  The  famous 
Institute  was  incited  to  scrutinize  the  representations 
of  A  chard,  and  a  commission  of  its  most  capable  mem- 
bers, appointed  by  it  to  examine  his  processes,  verify  his 
statements,  and  report  upon  his  discoveries  and  their 
merits. 

The  experiments  thus  impelled  did  not  justify  the 
sanguine  expectations  which  Achard's  letter  had  excited. 
Though  the  juice  of  the  Beet  contains,  on  the  average, 
ten  per  cent,  of  Sugar,  but  one  or  two  per  cent,  could 
(on  a  large  scale)  be  extracted  by  the  best  machinery 
and  processes  yet  invented.  The  Commission  reported 
that  Beet  Sugar,  (crude,)  which  Achard  had  reported  as 
costing  but  sixty  centimes  per  kilogramme  (about  five 
and  a  half  cents  per  pound),  could  not  be  produced  for 
less  than  one  franc  eighty  centimes  per  kilogramme 
(equal  to  sixteen  cents  per  pound).  Two  Beet  Sugar 
factories,  established  near  Paris,  soon  failed,  entailing 
heavy  loss  on  the  proprietors,  and  casting  deep  discredit 
on  the  new  industry.  Dark  days  succeeded  ;  for  the 
Sugar  business  prospered  no  better  in  Germany,  its 
cradle,  than  in  France.  For  a  time,  France,  rigorously 
excluded  by  British  cruisers  from  her  own  colonies,  and 
from  all  places  beyond  the  seas,  either  did  without 
Sugar  or  paid  over  fifty  cents  per  pound  for  it.  Resolute 
attempts  were  made  to  extract  Sugar,  or  a  semi-liquid 
equivalent,  from  the  Grape  ;  and  chemists  experimented 
and  sought  for  Sugar  in  every  direction,  without  achiev- 
ing any  noteworthy  success. 

But  France  had  by  this  time  a  ruler  not  easily  dis- 


190  POLITICAL   ECONOMY. 

couraged,  an  embodiment  of  energy  and  forecast,  whom 
our  modern  Free-Traders  have  not  yet  mustered  the 
hardihood  to  claim  as  of  their  school ;  though  they  will 
probably  attain  to  it  by  degrees,  as  they  have  already 
done  in  the  case  of  Henry  Clay.  This  man —  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  by  name  —  had  resolved  that  the  production 
of  Beet  Sugar  should  not  be  given  up  as  a  failure.  He 
encouraged  chemists,  agriculturists,  and  manufacturers, 
to  resume  their  efforts  and  persist  in  them  ;  and  he  was 
heeded.  In  1810,  M.  Deyeux  submitted  to  the  Academy 
of  Sciences  a  report,  in  which  he  insisted  that  the  Beet 
was  France's  best  hope  for  deliverance  from  the  prevail- 
ing scarcity  and  dearness  of  Sugar  ;  and  that  report  pro- 
duced an  effect  still  held  in  grateful  remembrance. 

Two  loaves  of  excellent  home-made  Beet  Sugar  hav- 
ing been  presented  to  the  Emperor,  he  gave  the  subject 
of  its  production  as  much  thought  and  study  as  he 
could,  amid  his  incessant  and  gigantic  cares,  and  de- 
creed1 that  32,000  hectares  (nearly  80,000  acres)  of 
land  should  be  devoted  to  the  culture  of  the  Beet,  and 
a  considerable  sum  was  confided  to  the  Minister  of 
Agriculture  expressly  to  encourage  the  production  of 
Beet  Sugar.  Coincident  instructions  were  despatched  to 
the  prefects  of  the  several  departments  into  which 
France  is  divided,  and  a  subsequent  decree2  established 
five  schools  of  Chemistry  in  aid  of  the  manufacture  of 
Beet  Sugar ;  while  four  imperial  factories  were  provided, 
calculated  to  produce,  from  the  crop  of  1812,  2,000,000 
kilogrammes  (nearly  5,000,000  pounds)  of  Beet  Sugar. 

The  tremendous  struggle  inaugurated  by  Napoleon's 
ill-starred  expedition  to  Moscow  necessarily  distracted 
attention  from  industrial  problems,  and  threatened  to 
engulf  the  new  manufacture  entirely.  "  At  the  moment," 
says  M.  de  Dombasle,  one  of  the  pioneers  in  this  in- 

i  March  25,  1811.  2  January  15,  1812. 


PROTECTION  ILLUSTRATED  —  SUGAR.  191 

dustry,  "  when  I  was  preparing  my  ground  for  the  pro- 
duction of  Beets,  our  armies  were  in  Moscow ;  when  I 
was  engaged  in  making  Sugar  from  those  Beets,  our 
factory  served  as  the  quarters  of  a  pulk  of  Cossacks." 
Others  had  similar  experiences  :  and  the  efforts,  alarms, 
and  disasters,  attending  Napoleon's  final  struggles  for 
power  on  the  soil  of  France,  gave  a  succession  of  shocks 
to  the  new  industry  which  a  vigorous  constitution  was 
needed  to  withstand. 

Napoleon  fell;  but  not  till  he  had  afforded  a  fresh 
demonstration  of  the  truth  that  "  Peace  hath  her 
victories  not  less  renowned  than  War,"  or,  if  less  re- 
nowned, certainly  more  substantial  and  enduring.  He 
found  time  before  his  overthrow  to  visit  the  refinery  at 
Passy  near  Paris,  where  the  best  Sugar  was  in  process 
of  preparation  for  table  use ;  and  next  day's  Moniteur 
announced  that  "  A  great  revolution  in  the  Commerce 
of  France  has  been  accomplished,"  —  an  averment 
possibly  premature,  but  essentially  true.  The  fields  of 
Marengo,  Austerlitz,  Wagram,  and  Borodino,  no  longer 
acknowledge  the  sway  of  France ;  the  name  of  Na- 
poleon naturally  recalls  memories  of  the  Berezina,  of 
Leipsic,  Waterloo,  and  St.  Helena,  rather  than  of 
his  brilliant  but  barren  victories  ;  even  the  imposing 
Arch  of  Triumph  and  the  lofty  column  in  the  Place 
Vendome  awaken  thoughts  of  the  vanity  of  ambition 
and  the  fleeting  illusions  of  power  and  fame ;  but  a 
million  of  French  acres  devoted  in  ever-widening  area 
to  the  profitable  cultivation  of  Beets,  and  hundreds  of 
factories  annually  producing  more  than  Six  Hundred 
Millions  of  poxmds  of  cheap  and  excellent  Beet  Sugar, 
remain  to  attest  to  the  present  and  to  future  genera- 
tions the  genius  and  true  glory  of  Napoleon  I. 

Beet  Sugar  is  no  longer  an  experiment.  Its  success 
is  now  beyond  question  or  cavil.  In  France,  as  in 


192  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

Germany,  it  no  longer  needs  nor  seeks  Protection. 
Lands  worth  four  hundred  dollars  per  acre  can  be  no 
otherwise  so  profitably  employed  as  in  the  production 
of  Beets  for  Sugar,  though  that  Sugar  is  now  afforded 
in  Paris  and  throughout  France  cheaper  than  Cane 
Sugar  of  equal  excellence  ever  was.  The  expediency 
of  the  home  production  of  Sugar  has  passed  out  of  the 
region  of  controversy  so  far  as  France  is  concerned. 
But  there  was  a  time  —  there  are  those  living  who  well 
remember  it — when  nothing  was  represented  and  re- 
garded as  more  preposterous  than  the  notion  that  Sugar 
might  be  profitably  made  from  Beets,  when  Providence 
(so  it  was  urged)  had  decreed  that  the  Cane  alone  should 
supply  it.  Growing  pine-apples  in  Greenland,  natural- 
izing the  reindeer  in  Cuba,  extracting  sunbeams  from 
cucumbers,  and  all  the  kindred  similes  which  Free- 
Traders  deem  so  apt  and  conclusive,  were  hurled  at  the 
heads  of  Frenchmen  in  pursuit  of  Sugar  under  diffi- 
culties ;  the  British  press  fairly  frothed  over  with  lam- 
poons and  libels  aimed  at  the  frog-eaters  and  their  wild- 
goose  chase  for  sweets;  and  epigram  was  piled  on  epi- 
gram, whereof  the  point  was  ever  substantially  this  :  — 

"  Says  John  Bull  to  Bony, '  While  I  use  the  Cane, 
You  are  welcome  each  year  to  get  Beet.'  " 

Even  down  to  the  comparatively  recent  period  (1837) 
at  which  Dr.  Wayland  gave  to  the  public  his  "  Elements 
of  Political  Economy,"  Free-Traders  still  pointed  to  the 
French  Protection  of  her  Sugar-makers  as  an  illustrative 
example  of  the  folly  of  Protection.  As  casting  a  strong 
side-light  on  the  whole  subject,  I  quote  all  that  the 
Doctor  (condensing  from  The  Edinburgh  Review)  has  to 
say 1  on  this  subject,  viz.:  — 

THE  SUGAR  TRADE.  —  To  encourage  her  colonies,  France 
lays  a  duty  of  fifty  francs  per  quintal  on  all  foreign  sugars. 

1  Elements  of  Political  Economy,  by  Dr.  Wayland,  p.  159. 


PROTECTION  ILLUSTRATED  —  SUGAR.  193 

This  has  increased  the  quantity  made  at  home  and  at  her 
islands.     So  far,  it  has  succeeded ;  but, 

2.  The  difference  between  the  duty  on  foreign  and  the  duty 
on  her  own  sugars  amounts  to  32,945,000  francs.     This  is 
the  bounty  paid  to  the  sugar-growers  of  Martinique  and  at 
home. 

3.  The  quantity  of  sugar  consumed  is  probably  less  by  one- 
third   than  it  otherwise  would  be.     England,  with  half  the 
number  of  inhabitants,  consumes  two  and  a  half  times  as 
much  sugar  as  France. 

4.  But  it  is  said  that  by  this  means  beet-root  sugar  will  yet 
supply  France  at  the  ordinary  price.     It  must,  however,  take 
twenty  years  under  the  present  system  in  order  to  do  this. 
The  present  Protection  costs  £  1,400,000  per  annum.     Sup- 
pose  this  to  continue  for  twenty  years,  it  will  amount  to 
£28,000,000    sterling;    the   interest   of  which   at   five   per 
cent,  will  buy,  at  two  and  a  half  pence  per  pound,1 126,000,000 
pounds  of  sugar  per  annum,  or  nearly   the  whole   annual 
amount  of  sugar  now  consumed  in  France. 

Here  is  the  familiar  Free  Trade  assumption,  that  all 

1  Dr.  Wayland  is  all  wrong  in  his  facts.  The  actual  average  price 
of  Sugar  in  bond  (that  is,  duty  unpaid)  in  London  in  that  year,  1837,  was 
not  2£  d.  per  pound,  as  he  asserts,  but  £  1  14  s.  7  d.  per  cwt.,  equal  to 
**iV  d-  Per  pound.  Then,  in  regard  to  the  consumption  of  Sugar  in 
France  and  England,  I  find  that,  in  1837,  the  quantity  consumed  in 
France  was  249,058,832  pounds,  and  in  England  442,838,720  pounds, 
which  is  hot  double,  —  not  75  per  cent,  greater.  The  duty  in  France 
on  Sugar  from  her  own  colonies  was  37  s.  6  d. ;  in  England,  the  average 
duty  was  24  s.  In  reference  to  the  price,  the  present  Emperor  of  the 
French,  writing  in  1842  on  the  Sugar  Question,  said:  — 

"  The  price  of  Sugar,  which,  under  the  Empire,  was  9  francs  per  kilo- 
gramme, has  since  fallen  to  1  franc  10  centimes;  and  though  then  pro- 
tected and  encouraged,  it  has  now  to  support  a  tax  of  27  francs  per  100 
kilogrammes ;  or,  together,  a  difference,  to  the  detriment  of  the  manu- 
facturers, of  817  francs  per  100  kilogrammes." 

Deducting  from  110  francs,  the  price  of  100  kilogrammes  of  Sugar  at 
1  franc  10  centimes  per  pound,  the  duty  of  27  francs,  leaves  83  francs  as 
the  price  of  the  Sugar  exclusive  of  duty.  According  to  Reed's  History 
of  Sugar,  the  price  of  Sugar  in  bond  in  London  was  then  36  s.  lid.  per 
cwt.,  or  86  francs  9  centimes  per  100  kilogrammes.  So  that,  only  jftve 
years  later  than  when  Dr.  Wayland  wrote,  Beet  Sugar  was  cheaper  in 
France  than  Cane  Sugar  in  its  cheapest  European  market ! 
9  M 


194  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

the  Sugar,  foreign  and  domestic,  consumed  in  France, 
was  enhanced  in  price  by  the  full  amount  of  the  duty 
charged  on  the  importation  of  foreign  Sugar,  —  an  as- 
siimption  refuted  by  a  million  facts.  Because  there  was 
a  duty  of  fifty  francs  per  quintal  charged  on  Sugar 
imported  from  other  than  French  colonies,  it  is  assumed 
that  all  the  Sugar  consumed  in  France  is  enhanced  in 
price  to  that  extent ;  and  not  merely  is,  but  will  con- 
tinue to  be,  up  to  the  moment  when  the  steady  growth 
of  Home  production  shall  have  entirely  excluded  foreign 
Sugar  !  The  French  are  thus  figured  as  taxing  them- 
selves, during  the  ensuing  twenty  years,  no  less  than 
£28,000,000,  or  nearly  $  140,000,000, —  very  nearly 
what  their  supply  of  Sugar  would  cost  them  under  Free 
Trade  !  Such  is  the  Free  Trade  calculation ;  now  let  us 
look  at  the  facts. 

The  Sugar  Industry  of  France  —  which  (like  our  own 
equally  immature  Manufactures)  had  received  a  serious 
set-back  from  the  sudden  cessation  of  hostilities  conse- 
quent on  the  downfall  of  Napoleon,  opening  our  markets 
to  the  products  of  British  fabrication  and  the  French  to 
a  corresponding  influx  of  tropical  or  Cane  Sugar —  soon 
recovered  from  the  blow,  and,  under  the  guardianship  of 
steadfast  Protection,  had  attained  such  development  and 
strength  that,  in  the  very  year  (1837)  of  Dr.  Wayland's 
publication  of  his  "  Elements,"  it  was,  for  the  first  time, 
subjected  to  an  impost  or  excise  of  fifteen  francs  per  one 
hundred  kilogrammes,  or  a  little  over  a  cent  and  a  half 
per  pound.  (We  presume  that  even  Free-Traders  will 
not  contend  that  this  impost  was  designed  to  favor  the 
domestic  beet-growers  or  sugar-manufacturers.)  The 
first  effect  of  this  impost  was  to  close  one  hundred  and 
sixty-six  sugar  factories,  extirpating  the  Beet  Industry 
from  seventeen  of  the  forty  or  fifty  Departments  in 
which  it  had  taken  root.  But  the  Sugar  industry  had 


PROTECTION  ILLUSTRATED  —  SUGAR.  195 

ere  this  acquired  a  vitality  and  vigor  which  enabled  it  to 
recover  from  this  shock,  and  soon  resume  its  onward 
march.  The  impost  was  raised  from  time  to  time,  as 
the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  business  were  judged 
so  decided  as  to  enable  it  to  bear  them,  until  all 
the  Protection  aiforded  by  duties  on  Imports  was 
fully  countervailed  by  the  excise  on  home  production ; 
and,  since  1860,  it  may  be  fairly  claimed  that  Beet  Sugar 
has  been  produced  in  France  more  cheaply  than  it  could 
be  imported  in  the  absence  of  any  tariff.  The  present 
rates  of  duty  collected  in  France  on  Sugar  are  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

Raw   Sugar,   under  No.  13   Dutch 

Standard. 
From   French  West  Indies  and  Island  Equivalent  in 

c  T>'  j       . Ai  •      -»«•    n  Per  100     American  gold 

ot  Keunion  and  settlements  m  Mada-    kilo.  net.     per  100  u». 

gascar 37  fr.        $  3.36 

From  other  French  Colonies      .        .  37  3.36 

From  other  countries  out  of  Europe      .         42  3.82 

From   Europe   or  European  entrepots, 

Colonial  sugar  ....         44  4.00 

Raw  Sugar,  above  No.  13  to   No.  20, 

inclusive. 
From  French  West  Indies  and   Island 

of  Reunion,  and  settlements  in  Mad- 
agascar .....  39  3.54 
From  other  French  Colonies          .         .        44  4.00 
From  other  countries  out  of  Europe              44  4.00 
From  Europe   or   European   entrepots, 

Colonial  sugar 46  4.18 

White    Sugar,  powdered,  above  No.  20 

Dutch  Standard. 
From   French  West  Indies  and  Island 

of  Reunion 40  3.63 

From  other  French  colonies  prohibited. 

White  Powdered  Sugar  from  all  other 
countries  is  prohibited. 


196  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

Refined  Sugar. 

From  French  West  Indies  and  Island 

of  Reunion 42  fr.        $  3.82 

From  other  French  colonies  prohibited. 

From  England  and  Belgium,  with  cer- 
tificate of  origin        ....       55  5.00 
Refined  Sugar  from   elsewhere,  not 

above  mentioned,  prohibited. 
Beet-Root  Sugar. 

Grown    and    manufactured   in  France, 
below  No.  13  Dutch  Standard    .        .        42  3.82 

Grown   and    manufactured    in  France, 
from  No.  13  to  No.  20        ...        44  4.00 

Powdered,  white,  above  No.  20        .  45  4.09 

Refined 47  4.27 

The  production,  meantime,  has  steadily  increased,  un- 
til there  was  made  from  the  excellent  Beet  crop  of  1865 
no  less  than  274,000,000  kilogrammes  (or  nearly  678, 
287,040  pounds)  of  Sugar,  or  more  than  five  times  the 
quantity  which  Dr.  Wayland  estimated,  less  than  thirty 
years  before,  as  equivalent  to  the  total  consumption 
of  France ;  and,  though  the  yield  has  since  been  less 
abundant  than  in  that  exceptionally  bounteous  year,  yet 
the  product  of  the  ensuing  year  (1866  —  67)  was  officially 
returned  at  216,000,000  kilogrammes,  or  533,191,280 
pounds,  which  is  equal  to  about  fourteen  pounds  per  an- 
num for  each  man,  woman,  and  child,  living  in  the  coun- 
try, not  including  the  quantity  of  Cane  Sugar  still  im- 
ported from  the  French  tropical  colonies,  and  disregard- 
ing also  the  large  product  of  Molasses  in  the  Beet-Sugar 
factories,  which  considerably  exceeds  100,000  tons  per 
annum.  It  may  be  confidently  asserted  that  no  Conti- 
nental people  who  mainly  procure  their  Sugar  from  the 
tropics,  under  no  matter  how  low  duties,  ever  consumed 
half  so  much  Sugar,  though  the  means  of  the  French 
peasantry  are  limited  and  their  habits  notoriously  frugal. 


PROTECTION  ILLUSTRATED  —  SUGAR. 


197 


We  have  seen  that  Sugar,  in  the  days  when  Protection 
was  inaugurated,  sold  in  Paris  at  fifty  cents  per  pound, 
—  a  consequence,  not  of  Protective  duties,  but  of  British 
blockades  and  captures.  That  price  was  of  course  tem- 
porary, and  the  fall  after  the  return  of  peace  was  signal 
and  rapid.  The  following  are  the  wholesale  prices  of  No. 
12  raw  Sugar  in  Paris,  exclusive  of  the  impost  levied 
thereon  by  the  Government,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able 
to  obtain  them  : 1  — 


Year. 

1816 
1817 
1818 
1819 
1820 
1821 
1822 
1823 
1824 
1825 
1826 
1827 
1828 


Price  per  Ib. 
12A  Cts. 


10* 


Year. 
1854 

1855 
1856 
1857 
1858 
1859 
1860 
1861 
1862 
1863 
1864 
1865 
1866 


Price  per  Ib. 
5^  Cts. 

6 


5* 


5* 

5 

5 


[NOTE.  —  There  was  a  gradual  fall  from  1828  to  1854 ;  but 
I  have  no  precise  data.8] 

Here  we  see  that  Protection,  pure  and  simple,  created 
on  the  soil  of  France  a  perfectly  novel  industry,  so  far 
as  that  country  or  its  material  is  regarded,  and  reduced 
the  price  of  its  product,  by  gradual  and  persistent  ap- 
proaches, to  a  point  below  that  at  which  tropical  sugar 

1  From  "  Beet-Root  Sugar  and  the'  Cultivation  of  the  Beet."    By 
E.  B.  Grant.     Boston:  Lee  and  Shepard.     1866. 

2  The  following  extract  from  a  letter  quoted  by  Mr.  W.  Digby  Sey- 
mour gives  the  relative  prices  of  Beet  and  Colonial  Sugars  in  Paris  in 
1851,  which  shows  that  Beet  Sugar  commanded  the  highest  price  of 
each  quality :  — 

"  In  order  to  enable  you  to  determine  the  commercial  value  of  in- 


198  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

had  ever  been  or  could  now  be  afforded  in  France,  were 
all  tariffs  abolished  and  trade  rendered  absolutely  free. 

The  Protection  afforded  to  home-grown  or  Beet  Sugar 
over  Colonial  or  Cane  Sugar  ranged  from  about  eight 
cents  per  pound  in  1816  down  to  one  to  three  cents  from 
1840  to  1860.  Since  1860,  the  duty  (as  will  be  seen)  is 
rather  lower  on  Colonial  than  on  Beet  Sugar.  In  other 
words,  Protection,  having  done  its  perfect  work,  is  super- 
seded, as  no  longer  necessary. 

digenous  (beet)  sugar,  I  copy  the  price-current  of  sugars  last  week. 
Porto  Rico  sugars,  which  bring  a  higher  price  in  the  London  market 
than  sugars  from  the  Antilles,  shall  serve  as  a  base. 

PRICE   PER   100  KILOGRAMMES  (220  LBS.)    DUTY  PAID. 

Nov.  7,  1851. 


Paris. 

Equivalent  per 

SUGAR.                                                            Francs. 

100  Ibs.  Am.  gold. 

Porto  Rico,  good  Fourths,        .        .        .118  ©119 

$  10.72  <©$  10.81 

Martinique  and  Guadaloupe,  good  Fourths,  120  "  121 

10.90  "      11.00 

Beet,  good  Fourths,  131  ' 

11.90  ' 

Martinique  and  Guadaloupe,  fair  Fourths,  123  ' 

124 

11.18  ' 

11.27 

Beet,  fair  Fourths,     133  ' 

11.27  ' 

Martinique  and  Guadaloupe,  fine  Fourths,  125  ' 

126 

11.18  ' 

11.27 

Beet,  fine  Fourths,     125  " 

11.18  ' 

Beet,  refined,  first  quality,         .        .       140  ' 

144 

12.72  ' 

13.09 

Beet,  refined,  second  quality,     .        .        .  146  '   178 

13.27  '      16.18 

"  How  to  Employ  Capital  in  Western  Ireland.   By  William  Digby 
Seymour."    p.  282. 


THE  BEET  SUGAR  INDUSTRY  OF  FRANCE.       199 


XV. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS  —  THE  SUGAR 
INDUSTRY  OF  FRANCE  INVIGORATING 
OTHER  INDUSTRIES  —  BEET  SUGAR  ON 
ITS  TRIUMPHAL  MARCH. 

AN  important  question  remains  to  be  considered : 
What  has  been  the  effect  of  this  remarkable  develop- 
ment of  Sugar  industry  upon  other  departments  of  the 
industry  of  France,  more  especially  upon  Agriculture, 
and  upon  the  recompense  of  Labor  1  As  this  is  a  vital 
point,  I  choose  to  quote  at  length  the  official  Report  on 
the  Condition  of  the  Sugar  Industry  of  France,  made 
by  M.  B.  Dureau  at  the  last  great  Exposition  of  the 
World's  Industry  (Paris,  1867),  as  follows  :l — 

"  The  extent  of  the  Beet  Culture,  which  was  not,  ten 
years  since,  more  than  128,440  acres,  may  to-day  be  estimated 
at  about  271,700  acres,  or  about  one-twentieth  of  the  ara- 
ble soil  of  France,  which  exceeds  54,249,640  acres.  These 
figures  confront  impressions  and  statements  which  imply  that 
the  development  of  Beet  culture  had  been  effected  at  the 
expense  of  that  of  cereals,  and  that  to  make  Sugar  exposed 
us  to  a  scarcity  of  Wheat.  But  facts  have  demonstrated  that 
the  lands  devoted  to  Beet  may  be  doubled  or  trebled,  and  still 
sufficient  remain  in  cereals  for  the  sustenance  of  man.  It  has 
been  demonstrated,  even,  by  incontestable  facts,  that,  instead 
of  tending  to  reduce  the  space  devoted  to  cereals,  it  remark- 
ably augments  it.  One  example  will  suffice  to  prove  it :  — 

"  In  1854,  the  area  devoted  to  Wheat  in  the  arrondisse- 
ment  of  Valenciennes  was  36,582  acres ;  in  1867,  it  attained 

1  Universal  Exposition,  Paris,  1867.  Report  on  the  Condition  of  the 
Sugar  Industry. 


200  POLITICAL  ECONOMY.' 

the  figure  of  39,537  acres,  although  the  cultivation  of  the 
Beet,  which  had  previously  an  extent  of  17,205  acres,  in- 
creased to  22,326  acres.  What,  then,  are  the  products  which 
the  Beet  supplants  ?  They  are  barley,  the  colza,  the  natural 
and  artificial  grasses,  the  woods,  and  at  other  times  the  fallow 
ground,  which  it  long  since  entirely  superseded  in  the  North, 
and  which  it  causes  to  disappear  in  all  districts  where  it  is  in- 
troduced. In  addition,  the  product  per  acre  of  Wheat  is 
nowhere  greater  than  in  the  Sugar  districts.  We  can  judge, 
from  that  same  arrondissement  of  Valenciennes,  which  had 
yielded  30f  bushels  per  acre  of  wheat  in  1861,  —  already 
out  of  proportion  with  the  rest  of  France,  —  gave  in  1866  a 
return  as  high  as  34  bushels  per  acre. 

"  The  number  of  cows  and  sheep  has  likewise  signally  in- 
creased. Thus,  the  districts  which  most  extensively  cultivate 
Beet  are  those  which  furnish  the  most  Wheat  and  Meat,  and 
are  therefore  the  largest  contributors  to  the  public  alimenta- 
tion. The  arrondissements  of  Lille  and  Valenciennes,  with 
their  excellent  culture,  sometimes  attain  the  figure  of  31  to 
35  tons  per  acre  of  Beets.  Other  regions  return  a  much 
lower  figure ;  and  we  believe  that  we  cannot  possibly  esti- 
mate it,  on  the  whole,  in  France,  at  higher  than  15  to  18  tons 
per  acre.  This  return,  it  will  be  understood,  is  susceptible  of 
great  variations,  according  to  the  circumstances,  more  or  less 
favorable,  of  the  weather. 

"  The  yield  of  Beet  [at  first  hardly  two  per  cent.]  is  now 
from  five  to  six  per  cent,  of  Sugar,  and  the  average  product 
of  Beet  Sugar  is  estimated  at  about  1,800  pounds  per  acre. 

"  Beet,  after  its  juice  is  expressed,  gives  a  residuum  of 
great  value  as  a  nutritive  substance.  It  may  be  estimated 
that  660  pounds  of  this  residuum,  fermented  by  being  left  for 
some  time  in  pits,  is  equivalent  in  nutrition  to  220  pounds  of 
Hay.  A  working  ox  is  well  fed  with  a  daily  ration  of  88  of 
pulp  and  4  to  6^  pounds  of  hay.  If  we  calculate  that  the 
pulpy  residuum  is  one-fifth  in  weight  of  the  Beet,  and  that  it 
will  consequently  furnish  a  total  quantity  of  990,000  tons, 
we  shall  find  that  it  can  support  (exclusive  of  all  other 
forage)  during  a  year  55,000  beeves  of  from  1,202  to  1,322 
pounds,  or  555,000  sheep,  and  thus  produce  1,322,400  pounds 


THE  BEET  SUGAR  INDUSTRY  OF  FRANCE.   201 

of  meat.  Moreover,  these  cattle,  fed  with  pulp,  will  furnish 
sufficient  manure  to  fertilize  each  year  about  30,000  acres. 

"  Beet  is,  we  see,  a  plant  that  improves  the  soil  when  its  cul- 
ture is  accompanied,  as  it  should  be,  by  the  feeding  of  cattle, 
which  its  residuum  will  so  largely  contribute  to  sustain. 

"  The  good  effect  is,  however,  not  limited  to  this ;  for, 
with  this  plant,  nothing  need  be  lost.  The  leaves  and  stalks 
which  are  left  on  the  soil  are  likewise  fertilizing ;  which  one 
soon  perceives  on  noting  the  vigor  of  the  Wheat  growing 
where  these  leaves,  rich  in  potash,  have  been  more  abun- 
dantly left  to  decay. 

"  If  eaten  by  sheep,  the  result  is  the  same.  The  Beet- 
roots coming  to  the  factory  carry  with  them  from  five  to  six 
per  cent,  of  earth,  often  a  great  deal  more :  this  earth,  col- 
lected at  the  washing  of  the  roots,  along  with  the  debris  of 
filaments  and  roots,  makes  a  fertilizing  matter,  which  is  ap- 
plied as  a  compost  by  mixing  it  with  muck  from  the  yard, 
cinders  from  the  boilers,  and  other  residuum. 

"  The  working  of  the  juice  requires  a  great  deal  of  chalk, 
which  forms,  with  the  abundant  scums  thrown  off  during 
clarification,  a  mineral  and  nitrogenous  fertilizer  of  the  first 
order,  highly  prized  by  growers :  for  the  scums  retain  part  of 
the  albumen  of  the  Beet  and  some  salts  in  combination. 
We  make  of  this  fertilizer  perhaps  about  220,000  tons  per 
season. 

"  The  fabrication  of  Sugar  employs  some  animal  black,  the 
residuum  of  which  (we  can  scarcely  estimate  it  at  less  than 
495,000  to  660,800  bushels  per  year)  goes  to  fertilize  the  granite 
lands  of  Brittany  and  furnish  the  calcareous  element  which  they 
require.  This  is  not  all.  The  manufacture  of  the  Sugar  leaves 
an  uncrystallizable  residuum,  namely,  Molasses,  which  may  be 
estimated  at  from  two  and  a  half  to  three  per  cent,  of  the 
weight  of  the  Beet.  This  Molasses,  the  total  quantity  of 
which  amounts  to  132,240  tons  per  annum,  is  worked  up  in 
special  establishments,  and,  after  giving  off,  by  distillation,  a 
volume  equal  to  one-fourth  of  its  weight  of  pure  Alcohol, 
leaves,  in  the  proportion  of  ten  to  twelve  per  cent.,  a  coarse 
residuum  known  as  Beet  Saline,,  which  contains  all  the  salts 
borrowed  from  the  soil  by  the  plant ;  none  of  the  elements 
9* 


202  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

of  which  escape  being  utilized,  owing  to  the  marvellous 
system  adopted  in  its  treatment.  The  season  of  1865  -  66,  ac- 
cording to  official  figures,  has  produced  6,765,962  gallons  of 
Molasses  Alcohol. 

"As  to  the  Salines,  —  composed  of  carbonate  of  potash 
and  of  soda,  of  chloride  of  potassium,  and  foreign  matters,  — 
their  production  ought  to  amount  to  from  13,224  tons  to 
16,530  tons. 

LABOR. 

"  It  is  useful  to  know  what  part  Labor  plays  in  the  fabri- 
cation of  Sugar.  This  part  is  considerable.  Let  us,  therefore, 
state  it  briefly.  _Ten  years  since,  it  was  estimated  that  the 
manufacture  of  Beet  Sugar  (we  do  not  speak  of  the  agricul- 
tural branch)  employed  40,000  persons,  of  both  sexes  and  all 
ages.  This  number  has  not  augmented  in  proportion  to  the 
production,  because  the  application  of  machinery,  and  notably 
of  some  special  machinery,  has  permitted  the  realization  of  a 
certain  economy  of  hands.  We  may,  nevertheless,  estimate 
that  each  factory  employs  from  180  to  200  persons,  of  whom 
three-fifths  are  men,  one-fifth  women,  and  one-fifth  children 
of  both  sexes.  The  average  wages  of  the  men  is  60  cents 
(gold)  per  day;  that  of  the  women,  25  cents;  and  that  of  the 
children,  20  cents.  We  can  estimate  at  about  $  10,000  per 
factory,  the  wages  of  each  season  of  120  days.  This  gives, 
for  the  441  factories  in  France,  a  sum  exceeding  $  4,400,000, 
to  be  divided  among  about  85,000  workers. 

"  As  to  the  cultivation  of  the  Beet  itself,  we  may  calculate 
for  all  the  hand-labor  required  from  $  6.80  to  $  7.20  per 
acre,  which  forms  another  sum  of  from  $  2,000,000  to 
$  2,200,000. 

"  This  employment,  created  by  the  Beet  Sugar  industry, 
is  as  such  the  more  interesting  because  it  is  purely  rural,  and 
takes  place  in  the  Winter,  —  that  is  to  say,  at  the  time  when 
agricultural  labor  is  least  required.  It  is  thus  that  this  useful 
industry  comes  to  the  aid  of  Agriculture,  favoring  it  in  all 
its  branches,  and  unquestionably,  by  the  influence  which  the 
extra  wages  we  have  mentioned  have  in  counteracting, 
among  the  rural  population,  the  false  attractions  of  the  cities. 
In  this  view,  it  renders  incomparable  service." 


THE  BEET  SUGAR  INDUSTRY   OF   FRANCE.       203 

I  do  not  suppose  that  any  corroboration  of  the  testi- 
mony above  given  is  needed  ;  but  the  following  note  on 
the  Beet  industry  of  Belgium  by  an  English  observer  — 
the  correspondent  of  The  London  Morning  Chronicle, — 
as  quoted  in  Mr.  W.  Digby  Seymour's  work  entitled, 
"  How  to  employ  capital  in  Western  Ireland"  (1851)  — , 
affords  a  striking  confirmation  of  the  accuracy  of  Mr. 
Bureau's  conclusion :  — 

"  When  Beet-root  forms  a  prominent  part  of  the  cultiva- 
tion, the  proportion  devoted  to  it  is  about  one-third  of  the 
whole  farm.  Take  a  farm  of  ninety  hectares  (222^ff  acres), 
and  there  would  be  thirty  hectares  (74^87  acres)  of  Beet-root, 
forty  (98TVfr  acres)  of  Wheat,  five  or  six  (12^  or  14T8-& 
acres)  of  Eye,  and  the  rest  in  clover,  carrots,  potatoes,  &c. 
It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that,  since  this  plant  has  been  so  large- 
ly cultivated  here  (Belgium),  the  yield  of  Wheat  has  been  as 
great  as  when  the  whole  ivas  devoted  to  the  latter,  —  so  excel- 
lent a  preparation  of  the  soil  is  Beet-root."  * 

I  have  made  these  long  extracts,  because,  while  throw- 
ing much  light  on  the  general  subject  of  Sugar  production, 
they  undesignedly  illustrate  and  commend  the  beneficence 
of  diversifying  the  pursuits  and  productions  of  a  people. 
France  has  at  length  cheaper  and  more  abundant  Sugar 
than  she  could  have  had,  had  she  not  long  since  entered 
resolutely  on  the  work  of  protecting  its  production  on 
her  own  soil,  and  persevered  therein  to  the  end,  in  spite 
of  the  sneers  and  jeers  of  economists  like  Bastiat,  who 
have  determined  not  to  see  in  Protection  aught  but  a 
device  or  scheme  for  enriching  one  man  or  class  at  the 
expense  of  another.  In  their  view,  Protection  being  but 
a  cloak  for  rapacity,  the  more  you  protect  the  more  Pro- 
tection is  needed ;  yet  here  is  France  abundantly  sup- 
plied with  a  cheap  article,  naturalized  on  her  soil  by 
Protection,  and  thus  rendered  so  strong  and  prosperous 

l  Seymour,  p.  95. 


204  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

and  remunerative,  that  it  no  longer  needs  Protection,  but 
goes  ahead,  fearless  and  flourishing,  without.  And,  so 
far  from  having  impoverished  other  interests  during  its 
long  struggle,  it  has  aided  and  enriched  them.  The  soil, 
mellowed  and  fertilized  by  the  Beet,  produces  more 
Wheat  than  ever  before,  and  the  farmers  are  incited  to 
devote  more  acres  to  that  noble  grain ;  the  residuum  of 
the  sugar-mills  feeds  more  cattle  than  the  same  lands 
ever  before  subsisted,  so  that  there  is  more  meat  as  well 
as  more  bread ;  while  Labor  finds  in  the  sugar-factories 
employment  and  wages  at  the  very  season  when,  in  their 
absence,  it  must  go  idle  and  often  hungry,  and  be  tempt- 
ed to  drift  away  to  the  already  overcrowded  cities.  Such 
are  the  obvious  results  of  efficient,  successful  Protection. 
But  the  substantial  and  enduring  benefits  resulting 
from  the  early  and  persistent  efforts  of  France  to  supply 
herself  with  home-made  Sugar  have  not  been  restricted 
to  her  own  people.  Germany,  —  which  preceded  her  in 
the  outset  and  vied  with  her  later  exertions,  —  though 
for  a  time  less  conspicuous  in  the  prosecution  of  this 
good  work,  is  now  nearly  abreast  of  her.  In  1840,  Prus- 
sia and  the  States  united  with  her  in  the  "  Zoll  Verein," 
or  Customs  Union,  had  145  Beet-Sugar  factories,  con- 
suming 241,486  tons  of  Beets  per  annum,  and  producing 
therefrom  13,445  tons  of  raw  Sugar  and  8,955  tons  of 
Molasses.  In  1865,  her  factories  had  increased  to  300, 
consuming  2,106,000  tons  of  Beets,  and  producing  there- 
from 180,000  tons  of  Sugar  and  50,544  tons  of  Molasses. 
And  whereas  it  originally  required  fifty  tons  of  Beets, 
and  in  1840  eighteen  tons,  to  produce  a  ton  of  Sugar, 
successive  improvements  had,  by  1865,  enabled  the 
manufacturers  to  obtain  a  ton  of  Sugar  from  less  than 
twelve  tons  of  Beets,1  with  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  ton 

1  Beet-Root  Sugar  and  Cultivation  of  the  Beet.    By  E.  B.  Grant. 
Boston.    1866. 


THE  BEET  SUGAR  INDUSTRY  OF  FRANCE.   205 

of  Molasses.  And  the  ultimate  limit  of  improvement  is 
not  yet  reached. 

The  Government,  which,  in  1840,  was  content  with  a 
tax  of  10-j3^  cents  per  ton  on  the  Beets  consumed  in 
Sugar-making,  had  increased  this  impost  to  $  1-23^  in 
1850,  and  this  to  $3.09  in  1858,— equal  to  $36  up  to 
$43  per  ton  on  the  Sugar  produced.  Under  this  impost, 
the  wholesale  price  of  Sugar  was  about  seven  cents  per 
pound. 

A  recent  Handels- Archive  (Prussian,  1867)  gives  the 
following  account  of  the  progress  of  Beet  Sugar  industry 
since  1836  in  North  Germany,  or  rather  the  sphere  of 
the  Zoll  Verein  :  — 

"  For  the  first  four  years,  no  tax  was  laid  on  the  article,  in 
order  to  encourage  the  production ;  in  the  fifth  year,  a  small 
financial  duty  of  10^  cents  (gold)  per  ton  of  beet-roots  was 
levied  ;  during  the  next  three  years,  it  was  doubled  and  made 
20-j6^-  cents  per  ton :  in  the  following  six  years,  it  was  trebled, 
and  made  61T87  cents;  then  came  three  years  that  it  was 
doubled  and  raised  to  $1.23^;  after  which  it  was  again 
doubled  for  a  period  of  five  years,  when  $  2.47^  was  levied  ; 
and  finally,  for  the  last  nine  years,  it  was  raised  twenty-five 
per  cent.,  and  now  pays  $  3.09  per  ton.  In  the  first  four 
years,  it  produced  no  revenue ;  but  in  1867  it  yielded  no  less 
than  $8,748,942. 

"  During  the  thirty-one  years,  the  production  of  beet-root 
rose  from  558,882  cwt.  to  55,910,761  cwt.  in  1867,  and  the 
quantity  of  raw  sugar  made  from  it  had  increased  from  31,048 
cwt.  to  4,437,361  cwt. 

"  In  1831,  there  were  122  manufactories,  and  at  the  end  of 
1867  they  ,had  increased  to  296,  which,  however,  is  not  in 
proportion  to  the  rise  of  the  production ;  but  during  the  above 
period  the  improvements  in  the  machinery  and  apparatus 
must  have  been  very  great ;  for  whereas  in  1831  eighteen  hun- 
dreds of  beet-root  were  required  to  yield  a  hundred  of  sugar, 
twelve  hundred  were  sufficient  in  1867.  From  a  calculation 
made  of  the  percentage  as  compared  with  the  population,  it 


206  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

appears  that  the  production  of  sugar  at  first  was  less  than  two 
ounces  per  head,  but  amounted  last  year  to  9.79  Ibs.  per  head 
of  the  population. 

"  The  statistics  of  the  exports  and  imports  of  sugar  for  each 
year  of  the  above-named  periods,  show  that,  while  the  im- 
ports of  sugar  in  1831  were  1,202,319  cwt,  they  had  dwindled 
down  to  the  insignificant  quantity  of  39,954  cwt.  in  1867. 
At  the  same  time,  the  exports  had  increased  very  nearly  in 
the  same  though  reversed  ratio,  as  in  1831  they  amounted  to 
49,179,  and  in  1867  had  risen  gradually  to  947,603  cwt." 

The  Hon.  Horace  Capron,  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Agri- 
culture, upon  a  call  moved  by  the  Hon.  S.  M.  Cullom  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  reported  to  Congress  facts 
illustrating  the  production  of  Beet  Sugar,  whereof  a  part 
have  heretofore  been  given  from  other  sources,  but  there 
are  others  of  decided  interest  which  I  state  on  the  Com- 
missioner's aiithority.  He  says  :  — 

"Without  Government  encouragement  at  the  outset,  it 
might  not  now  be  numbered  among  the  industries  which 
bless  the  world.  When  the  first  Bonaparte  fostered  the  art 
of  extracting  Sugar  from  this  garden  vegetable  as  a  practical 
matter,  the  possibility  of  obtaining  a  good  article  had  long 
previously  been  demonstrated  by  chemists ;  it  only  remained 
to  be  shown  that  the  manufacture  could  be  conducted  with 
profit  on  a  large  scale.  His  object  was  to  exclude  from  his 
empire  the  sugar  of  British  colonies,  the  price  of  which  was 
then  four  or  five  francs  per  pound.  A  prize  of  1,000,000 
francs  was  offered  by  the  French  Government  for  the  most 
successful  method  of  obtaining  a  supply  of  indigenous  Sugar. 
It  was  soon  evident  that  such  a  supply  must  be  furnished 
from  the  Beet. 

"  In  Poland,  also,  in  1812,  government  loans  and  exemption 
from  conscription,  in  aid  of  the  enterprise,  were  freely  of- 
fered. In  fact,  the  principal  governments  of  continental 
Europe  vied  with  each  other  in  perfecting  and  extending  the 
new  business. 

"  A  manufactory  of  Beet  Sugar  was  in  successful  operation 
in  Silesia  as  early  as  1805;  and  in  France  repeated  experi- 


THE  BEET  SUGAR  INDUSTRY  OF  FRANCE.   207 

merits  were  undertaken  a  few  years  later.  Up  to  1818,  no 
very  marked  or  rapid  progress  was  made,  though  the  business 
was  constantly  extending. 

"  In  1839,  the  manufacture,  already  established  upon  a 
solid  footing,  embraced  the  operations  of  268  factories  in 
France,  Germany,  Sweden,  and  Russia.  In  1848,  France 
alone  had  294;  Prussia  346,  and  Russia  425.  The  present 
number  of  factories  in  France  (according  to  De  Neumann)  is 
449  ;  many  of  them  are  far  more  extensive  than  those  of 
former  days,  and  fourteen  of  the  number  have  been  estab- 
lished during  the  past  year.  At  the  first  of  January,  1868, 
3,173  refineries  of  Beet  Sugar  were  reported  as  in  operation 
in  Europe. 

"  The  total  product  in  1828  is  stated  to  have  been  7,000 
tons;  in  1851,  180,000  tons;  and  in  1867,  the  enormous 
quantity  of  663,000  tons,  or  1,485,120,000  pounds,  worth 
$  100,000,000,  or  about  seven  cents  per  pound. 

"  Sixteen  years  ago,  France  was  able  to  manufacture  half 
of  her  total  consumption  of  Sugar,  or  60,000  tons ;  and 
Belgium,  consuming  14,000  tons,  imported,  in  1851,  but 
4,000  tons.  Germany,  at  the  same  date,  produced  43,000 
tons,  Austria  15,000,  and  Russia  35,000  tons ;  the  latter  coun- 
try also  importing,  at  that  time,  50,000  tons  of  Sugar  in 
addition  to  the  home  product.  The  total  manufacture  of 
Europe,  as  stated  above,  has  been  almost  quadrupled  since 
that  date,  and  cane  sugar  in  several  of  those  states  is  now 
scarcely  known. 

"  The  amount  manufactured  in  France  during  the  three 
months  ending  November  30,  1867,  was  120,553  tons, — 
18,613  more  than  was  made  in  the  same  period  of  the  pre- 
vious year 

"  The  product  of  Beets  per  acre  is  from  fourteen  to  fifteen 
tons  in  France  and  Belgium.  Enormous  crops  have  occasion- 
ally been  reported.  The  English  Gardener's  Chronicle  con- 
tains the  statement  of  M.  de  Gasparin,  of  27  tons  700  pounds 
grown  upon  39  perches  16  square  yards,  or  nearly  110  tons 
per  acre.  He  sowed  the  seed  under  glass,  transplanted  the 
plants  in  April,  hoed  repeatedly,  and  irrigated  every  two 
weeks.  . 


208  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

"  The  large  and  increasing  quantities  of  Sugar  and  Molas- 
ses required  for  consumption  in  this  country  and  the  amount 
of  money  paid  for  foreign  labor  in  its  production,  can  be  ap- 
preciated by  a  glance  at  the  following  statement  of  imports 
for  five  years,  which  is  in  addition  to  a  small  domestic  pro- 
duct of  cane,  maple,  and  other  sugars,  and  large  quantities  of 
sorghum  syrups ;  a  small  amount,  also,  by  indirect  trade,  is 
not  included,  on  account  of  incompleteness  in  the  official 
statement  of  imports. 

SUGAR.  SYKTTP  AND  MOLASSES. 

Year.  Pounds.  Dollars.  Gallons.  Dollars. 

1862  557,137,529  20,357,090  25,157,280  3,427,813 

1863  518^594,861  19,082,017  31,206,986  4,732,378 

1864  632,230,247  29,660,076  33.571,230  7,256,064 

1865  608,855,989  25,248,299  43^309,003  7,471,467 

1866  977,885,449  39,595,677  47,768,348  7,227,351 

"Here  is  a  total  of  $  133,943,159,  gold  value,  paid  for  for- 
eign Sugar  in  five  years,  and  $  30,115,073  for  the  Molasses, 
—  an  average  of  about  $  33,000,000  per  year,  and  more  than 
$  50,000,000  in  currency ;  the  most  of  which,  if  not  all, 
should  be  retained  at  home.  In  view  of  the  great  success 
of  the  business  in  Europe,  the  American  people  owe  to  the 
world's  estimate  of  American  enterprise  a  determined  and 
persistent  effort  for  its  establishment  here.  I  see  no  reason 
to  despair  of  its  complete  accomplishment." 

A    French     periodical,1    with    evident    satisfaction, 


"  One  of  the  most  remarkable  and  interesting  facts  of  the 
past  year  is  the  export  of  considerable  quantities  of  Beet 
Sugar  from  France  to  England,  — a  country  that,  not  many 
years  ago,  tried  to  stifle  the  Beet  Sugar  industry  in  its 
cradle." 

It  is  not  the  aim  of  these  essays  to  commend  new 
branches  of  industry  to  favor,  nor  to  insist  that  these 
may  be  pursued  to  greater  profit  than  others.  Our  close 
proximity  to  the  tropical  isles  in  which  the  Cane  grows 

1  Journal  des  Fabricants  de  Sucre,  January  4, 1866. 


THE  BEET   SUGAR  INDUSTRY  OF   FRANCE.       209 

with  greatest  luxuriance,  seldom  needing  to  be  replanted, 
and  the  strong  probability  that  some,  if  not  all,  of  those 
islands  may  soon  choose  to  unite  their  destinies  with 
our  own,  may  seem  to  render  questionable  the  wisdom 
of  invigorating  the  prosecution  of  Beet  culture  on  our 
soil  with  an  eye  to  the  production  therefrom  of  Sugar. 
My  end  is  attained  if  I  have  shown  that  one  important 
product  has  been,  through  the  aid  of  Protection,  natural- 
ized on  a  continent  to  which  it  was  supposed  utterly  un- 
suited,  and  in  a  climate  under  which  its  prosecution  was 
deemed  wholly  impracticable,  and  that  the  results  are 
signally  conducive  to  the  advantage,  not  merely  of  those 
engaged  in  that  industry,  but  of  the  great  body  also  of 
their  countrymen,  and  to  the  substantial  and  permanent 
well-being  of  mankind. 

Having  thus  traced,  by  the  aid  of  official  documents, 
the  history  and  fortunes  of  the  Beet  Sugar  industry  of 
France,  from  its  origin  down  to  our  own  day,  I  propose 
to  place  in  contrast  with  the  facts  a  Free  Trade  traves- 
ty of  their  substance  and  moral.  I  quote  in  full  the  ver- 
sion of  the  matter  given  in  The  Free-Trader  of  July, 
1868,  viz.  :  — 

"  The  origin  of  the  Beet  culture  in  France  was  this : 
During  the  Napoleonic  wars,  the  ports  of  France  were  rigo- 
rously blockaded,  and  foreign  trade  almost  annihilated,  so  that 
Sugar  went  up  to  $  1.20  per  pound.  The  French  people 
were  thus  compelled  to  raise  Sugar  or  go  without  it,  and 
hence  resorted  to  the  Beet  culture.  On  the  restoration  of 
peace,  in  1814,  Sugar  fell  to  14  cents  per  pound.  The  pro- 
tection was  gone,  and  the  consumers  could  get  for  14  cents 
what  had  cost  them  $  1.20.  The  Beet  Sugar  manufacturers 
began,  of  course,  to  clamor  loudly  for  Governmental  assist- 
ance. France  had  Sugar  colonies  of  her  own,  —  Martinique, 
Guadaloupe,  Cayenne,  &c. ;  but,  to  satisfy  the  home  Sugar- 
growers,  a  duty  was  laid  by  Louis  XVIII.  of  $  80  per  ton  on 


210  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

colonial  and  $  200  per  ton  on  foreign  Sugar.  Under  this 
heavy  protection,  the  cultivation  of  the  Beet  was  immensely 
extended.  A  powerful  opposition  was  raised  to  this  policy, 
and  much  conflicting  legislation  took  place ;  but  the  culture 
has  continued  to  the  present  time,  and  the  French  people 
have  paid  so  much  in  the  extra  cost  of  their  Sugar  that  the 
sum  total  which  they  have  lost  would  form  a  fund,  the  an- 
nual interest  of  which  would  supply  them  gratis  with  all  the 
Sugar  they  will  consume  to  the  end  of  time ! 

"  Such  is  the  example  of  France,  as  we  understand  the 
matter,  which  Protectionists  would  have  us  imitate.  To  do 
this,  the  Government  must  increase  the  present  onerous 
duties  vastly  beyond  what  they  now  are,  and,  if  not  found 
sufficient  to  protect  such  an  unnatural  branch  of  industry, 
they  must  be  increased  until  they  are.  Such  are  the  only 
conditions  on  which  the  culture  can  be  sustained.  As  in  the 
case  of  the  Cotton  manufacture,  to  protect  which  we  laid  at 
first  duties  of  25  per  cent,  but  increased  them  every  four 
years  till  they  reached  50  to  100  per  cent.,  so  it  must  be  with 
Sugar,  only  worse  in  degree,  as  the  business  is  more  abnormal. 
But,  if  the  G-overnment  will  only  begin  the  work,  and  per- 
severe sufficiently  long,  there  is  no  doubt  an  immense  branch 
of  business  may  be  established,  and  at  an  enormous  loss  to 
the  nation.  Once  begun,  there  can  be  no  stopping-place. 
We  have  taxed  the  people  to  protect  our  '  infant  manufac- 
tures '  for  over  half  a  century,  and  where  are  we  to-day  ? 
Have  the  infants  arrived  at  maturity  ?  Can  they  stand 
alone  ?  Have  they  ceased  to  cry  for  Protection  ?  When 
the  people  of  the  West  shall  have  invested  millions  in  sugar- 
houses,  mills,  and  apparatus,  and  yet  find  the  business  un- 
profitable as  compared  with  wheat-growing,  as  they  certainly 
must,  the  clamor  for  higher  duties  will  be  louder  and  more 
irresistible  than  the  first  demand  for  Protection.  Once  start 
any  kind  of  business  under  Government  assistance,  and  that 
assistance  can  never  be  withdrawn." 

Compare  this  final  assertion  with  the  facts  hereto- 
fore given,  including  the  prices  at  which  Sugar  has  been 
and  is  sold  in  France,  and  determine  on  which  side  is 
beneficent  statesmanship,  and  on  which  selfish,  narrow, 


THE  BEET  SUGAR  INDUSTRY  OF  FRANCE.   211 

short-sighted  indifference  to  National  growth  and  general 
well-being. 

I  have  thus,  in  tracing  the  history  of  Beet  Sugar,  and 
the  industries  conducive  to  its  production,  shown  what 
Protection  is,  what  it  purposes,  and  what  it  does.  In 
divesting  that  production  of  an  exclusively  tropical 
character,  diffusing  it  over  a  great  portion  also  of  the 
Temperate  Zone, .  and  demonstrating  its  adaptation  to 
every  part  of  that  zone,  Protection  has  signally  cheap- 
ened for  the  masses  their  most  essential  luxury,  enabling 
millions  to  enjoy  it  daily  who  would  else  have  rarely 
tasted  it,  and  thus  increasing  the  comfort  and  physical 
well-being  of  mankind.  Labor  more  amply  and  uni- 
formly employed,  as  well  as  better  paid,  lands  rendered 
more  productive  and  therefore  increased  in  value,  a  sub- 
stantial and  permanent  improvement  in  the  character  of 
the  soil  and  the  condition  of  those  who  cultivate  it,  — 
such  is  Protection,  as  demonstrated  in  the  creation  of 
the  Beet  Sugar  industry  and  its  firm  establishment  in 
Central  Europe.  In  other  words  :  the  planting  of  the 
Sugar-producer  by  the  side  of  the  Sugar-consumer,  from 
whom  he  was  formerly  separated  by  a  distance  of  three 
or  four  thousand  miles,  has  reduced  to  a  tenth  the  cost 
at  which  their  products  were  formerly  exchanged,  there- 
by increasing  the  rewards  of  industry  and  the  comforts 
and  enjoyments  of  the  poor.  Such  being  Protection  as 
it  is,  I  ask  the  reader  to  contrast  it  with  the  caricature 
which  its  enemies  present,  and  which  I  find  in  one  of 
the  fly-sheets  sown  broadcast  by  the  importers'  Free 
Trade  League,  which  has  its  American  head-quarters  in 
our  City.  I  quote  it  verbatim,  as  follows  :  — 

"  PROTECTION. 

"  '  Protect  me ! '  is  the  imploring  cry  of  a  comfortable,  well- 
fed,  well-clad  personage  whom,  at  first  sight,  one  would  hardly 


212  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

take  for  a  beggar.  '  Protect  me !  I  own  but  ten  thousand 
acres  of  land  in  the  world.  It  is  my  all.  It  is  full  of  coal ; 
but  the  Englishmen  and  Nova  Scotians  have  got  coal  too,  and 
they  offer  to  sell  it  cheaper  than  the  price  I  want.  Shut  out 
this  foreign  coal,  and  protect  me,  an  American  laborer.'  He 
looks  even  less  like  a  laborer  than  a  beggar. 

" '  What  makes  coal  so  dear  when  the  weather  is  so  dread- 
ful cold  ?  God  help  us  poor !  '  comes  from  between  the  chat- 
tering teeth  of  a  toil-worn,  care-worn,  shivering  woman,  as 
she  measures  with  stingy  eye  a  scanty  fresh  supply  of  fuel  to 
her  waning  fire.  No  cry  from  her  to  Government  for  Pro- 
tection. No  Protection  to  her  from  the  greed  of  the  strong, 
the  cunning,  the  avaricious.  '  Work  for  yourself.  Work  or 
starve.  Self-help.  Every  one  for  himself.  If  Government 
gave  bread,  or  clothes,  or  fuel,  to  the  poor,  it  would  demoral- 
ize them.  Take  better  care  of  the  pennies  you  earn.  Lay 
them  up  in  Summer  for  a  wintry  day.'  Such  are  the  an- 
swers she  would  get  if  she  asked  for  Protection,  —  if  she 
turned  beggar.  No  chance  for  her  to  put  in  a  replication. 
The  voices  of  the  coal-owners  are  mighty  to  drown  hers. 
If  she  could  be  heard,  she  would  say :  '  How  can  I  lay  up 
my  pennies  when  the  strong  arm  of  Government  takes  them 
from  me,  day  by  day,  as  fast  as  I  earn  them,  and  hands 
them  over  to  my  richer  neighbors  ?  On  every  spool  of 
thread  I  buy,  Government  takes  from  me  a  penny  or  two  to 
pay  over  to  the  Woonsocket  Factory  Company,  so  that  they 
may  make  dear  thread  and  big  dividends.  On  every  garment 
I  wear,  it  takes  pennies  and  shillings  from  me,  wherewith  to 
fill  the  purses  of  the  rich  men  who  make  cloth,  and  stockings, 
and  shawls,  and  who  cannot  be  content  with  less  than  fifty 
or  one  hundred  per  cent,  increase  of  their  wealth  every  year, 
to  pay  them  for  making  dear  clothes  for  the  American  laborer. 
When  I  buy  a  stove  or  a  pair  of  scissors,  I  must  pay  some  of 
my  hard-earned  pennies  to  support  the  wealthy  iron-maker 
of  Pennsylvania.  I  get  no  Protection  to  my  labor,  and  I  ask 
none.  Let  us  both  alone,  —  me  and  the  manufacturer.  As 
you  let  me  work  my  humble  way  along  as  best  I  can,  leave 
him  to  do  the  same.  Give  him  no  part  of  my  earnings,  and 
I  am  content  with  my  little  share  of  this  world's  goods.'  If 


THE  BEET  SUGAR  INDUSTRY  OF  FRANCE.   213 

it  demoralizes  society  for  Government  to  give  the  poor  food 
and  clothes  and  fuel,  is  it  not  equally  demoralizing  for  Gov- 
ernment to  give  to  the  rich  and  the  strong  ?  And,  when  it 
gives  to  the  rich  by  taking  from  the  comforts  of  the  poor,  is 
it  not  demoralizing  society  at  both  ends  ?  "  —  Round  Table. 

Reader  !  the  gentlemen  who  contribute  their  thou- 
sands of  dollars  each  to  circulate  such  appeals  as  the 
above  to  popular  ignorance  and  envy,  expecting  to  make 
.their  tens  of  thousands  therefrom  by  the  sale  of  more 
foreign  products  and  at  higher  prices,  tell  you  that  their 
views  are  liberal,  enlightened,  comprehensive,  far-seeing, 
while  mine  are  narrow,  rapacious,  short-sighted,  partial, 
and  selfish.  Compare  their  statement  just  given  with 
the  facts  concerning  Sugar  set  forth  in  this  and  the  pre- 
ceding essay,  and  judge  impartially  between  us. 

If  you  believe  that  the  natural  relation  of  one  man  to 
another  is  that  of  antagonism,  —  that  the  prosperity  of 
A  involves  or  necessitates  the  bankruptcy  of  B,  —  that 
Agriculture  and  Manufactures  are  natural  foes,  whereof 
one  must  perish  that  the  other  may  flourish,  —  then  your 
proper  place  awaits  you  in  the  Free  Trade  ranks.  But 
if  you  have  a  true  and  generous  conception  of  the  essen- 
tial Harmony  of  Interests,  —  of  the  natural  and  mutual 
interdependence  of  diverse  pursuits  and  industries,  — 
such  as  Jackson  afforded  in  his  letter  to  Dr.  Coleman, 
and  Henry  Clay  maintained  and  elucidated  throughout 
his  long  and  illustrious  public  career,  then  you  are  in 
substantial  accord  with  us  who  uphold  Protection,  and 
should  not  hesitate  to  march  under  our  flag. 


214  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 


XVI. 

AMERICAN    SHIP-BUILDING,    SHIPPING,    AND 
FOREIGN  COMMERCE. 

IN  the  later  months  of  1862,  a  scarcity  of  Printing- 
Paper  was  proclaimed  in  this  market  and  throughout 
our  country..  The  protraction  and  desperation  of  our 
Civil  War,  whereof  the  close  seemed  indefinitely  post- 
poned ;  the  consequent  dilution,  expansion,  and  depre- 
ciation, of  our  Paper  Currency ;  the  interruption  (more 
complete  then  than  months  later,  when  our  armies  had 
perforated  the  cotton-growing  region)  of  commercial  in- 
tercourse between  the  planting  and  the  manufacturing 
districts  of  our  country;  the  scarcity  and  dearness  of 
Paper-makers'  stock,  whether  of  domestic  or  of  foreign 
origin,  —  conspired  to  induce  a  concerted,  sudden,  and 
enormous,  enhancement  of  the  price  of  Paper.  Many 
manufacturers,  who  were  under  contract  to  supply  cer- 
tain newspaper  establishments  at  specified  prices  for 
months,  if  not  years,  in  prospect,  repudiated  their  en- 
gagements, pleading  inability  to  fulfil  them.  Publish- 
ers, who  had  been  for  years  printing  paper  that  cost  an 
average  of  ten  cents  per  pound,  found  themselves  sud- 
denly required  to  pay  eighteen,  twenty,  and  even  so 
high  as  twenty-six  cents  per  pound.  THE  TRIBUNE  paid 
this  latter  price  for  large  consignments,  inferior  in  qual- 
ity to  thousands  of  reams  for  which  it  had  recently  paid 
but  nine  cents ;  and  it  sold  much  of  this  dear  paper, 
after  printing  it,  for  considerably  less  than  its  prime  cost. 
At  a  time  when  Business  was  stagnant  and  Advertising 
consequently  slack,  this  sudden,  unprecedented  advance 


HOW   TO   SECURE  CHEAP   PAPER.  215 

in  what  was  (and  is)  by  far  their  heaviest  item  of  weekly 
outlay,  threatened  the  cheap  dailies  with  absolute  ruin. 

At  once,  a  concerted  outcry  was  raised  for  cheapening 
Paper  through  the  repeal  of  all  duties  on  its  importa- 
tion. Congress  was  promptly  memorialized,  in  behalf  of 
most  of  the  leading  journals,  to  cheapen  Paper  by  allow- 
ing it  to  be  imported  duty-free. 

I  did  not  concur  in  this  representation,  nor  in  the 
view  which  prompted  it.  That  Paper  might  be  some- 
what cheapened,  for  the  moment,  by  putting  it  on  the 
free-list,  I  could  not  doubt ;  but  I  believed  that  such 
instant  cheapening  would  be  purchased  at  too  great  a 
cost  to  the  country,  and  even  to  the  newspapers  them- 
selves. I  believed  that  the  true  road  to  cheaper  Paper 
lay  through  the  encouragement  of  its  Home  production ; 
that  cheapness  thus  secured  would  be  real,  beneficent, 
enduring,  as  that  secured  by  a  policy  which  widened  the 
average  distance  between  producer  and  consumer  could 
not  be.  I  stood  forth,  therefore,  almost  solitary  in  my 
resistance  to  the  repeal  of  the  duty  (twenty  per  cent.) 
on  the  importation  of  Printing  Paper.  I  held  it  better, 
even  for  the  publishers,  that  they  should  pay  this  duty 
on  the  paper  they  might  be  impelled  to  import,  than  to 
have  it  temporarily  cheapened  by  abolishing  the  impost, 
at  the  cost  of  discouraging  the  investment  of  capital  and 
capacity  in  the  discovery  or  adaptation  of  new  material, 
the  erection  of  new  paper-mills,  and  the  consequent 
cheapening  of  paper  by  means  consistent  with  the  full- 
est development  of  American  Industry. 

These  views  prevailed.  The  duty  on  imported  paper 
was  not  taken  off,  though  considerable  quantities  were 
imported  under  it,  some  of  which  was  purchased  for  and 
vised  on  THE  TRIBUNE.  Meantime,  the  high  price  of 
Paper  incited  the  erection  of  new  mills  and  the  enlarge- 
ment of  old  ones,  the  improvement  of  processes,  and  the 


216  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

extensive  use  thereby  of  fibrous  substances  previously 
deemed  intractable ;  and  thus  Printing  Paper  was  ren- 
dered permanently  abundant  and  reasonably  cheap  for 
the  last  two  or  three  years,  as  it  still  remains.  I  be- 
lieve its  average  (gold)  price  has  been  as  low  throughout 
the  last  two  years  as  in  any  former  two,  and  lower  than 
the  corresponding  prices  of  food,  shelter,  and  clothing. 
In  short,  I  believe  that  Paper  has  been  cheapened  to  its 
consumers  by  holding  on  to  the  duty,  and  thus  encour- 
aging its  production  at  home  rather  than  abroad. 

The  same  question,  essentially,  is  now  to  be  decided 
with  regard  to  Iron,  more  especially  its  lowest  and 
crudest  manufactured  form,  that  of  Pig  Iron.  It  is 
plausibly  asserted  that  Pig  Iron  is  now  exorbitantly 
high,  as  Paper  was  in  1862  —  64,  —  that  its  producers  are 
rapidly  amassing  fortunes,  —  that  the  only  effect  of  the 
duty  is  to  enhance  the  price  without  increasing  the  pro- 
duct, —  and  that  a  repeal  or  material  reduction  of  the 
duty  would  simply  reduce  the  price  without  affecting 
the  production,  —  and  that  this  would  enable  our  rolling- 
mills,  puddling  furnaces,  &c.,  to  cheapen  their  product 
and  thus  extend  their  sales,  and  would  hence  give  a 
new  spring  to  our  entire  manufacturing  industry,  and 
especially  to  the  department  of  Ship-Building,  which  is 
represented  as  at  its  last  gasp. 

I  do  not  believe  that  the  road  to  real,  permanent 
cheapness  lies  this  way,  nor  can  I  realize  that  one  de- 
partment of  our  manufacturing  industry  is  to  be  bene- 
fited by  the  sacrifice  of  another.  I  see  it  stated,  by 
those  who  have  iron-mines  or  coal-fields  to  sell,  or  a 
manufacturing  city  to  build,  that  Pig  Iron  has  been,  is, 
or  may  be,  turned  out  from  their  choice  materials,  in 
their  favored  localities,  at  $  30,  $  25,  $  23,  and  perhaps 
even  for  $  20  per  ton  ;  and  I  give  due  credit  to  their  as- 
sertions. That  is  to  say  :  I  presume  that,  under  the 


HOW   TO   CHEAPEN  IBON.  217 

most  favorable  circumstances,  and  taking  no  account  of 
disappointments  and  failures,  the  results  thus  vaunted 
have  been  attained ;  just  as  I  know  that  some  great 
farmers  at  the  West  have  filled  their  bounteous  cribs 
with  Corn  at  a  cost  not  exceeding  twenty-five  cents  per 
bushel,  that  could  be  sold  there  at  fifty  cents  per  bushel  : 
and  so  with  Wheat  and  other  staple  products  of  the  soil ; 
while  I  know  that  Corn,  Wheat,  and  everything  else, 
cost  in  the  average  as  much  as  they  bring,  else  they  would 
be  sold  for  less.  I  note  that  those  who  so  loudly  inveigh 
against  the  enormous  profits  of  making  Pig  Iron  are  very 
careful  not  to  make  any,  and  not  to  allow  any  of  their 
means  to  be  used  iu  making  any.  There  are,  in  Virginia 
alone,  not  less  than  One  Million  acres  of  first-rate  Iron 
and  Coal  lands,  mainly  covered  with  choice  timber  for 
building  and  for  coaling,  that  are  this  hour  awaiting  pur- 
chasers at  fifty  dollars  per  acre  or  less,  —  all  of  them 
within  a  few  miles  of  railroad  or  water  communication, 
and  some  of  them  directly  on  the  great  thoroughfares  of 
the  State,  which  is  nevertheless  buying  abroad  most  of 
the  (far  too  little)  Iron  she  uses.  I  want  to  see  a  radical 
change  in  all  this,  —  want  to  see  those  great  forests  in 
good  degree  turned  into  buildings  and  into  charcoal; 
the  mines  opened  and  worked ;  a  full  Million  promptly 
added  by  immigration  to  the  Mining  and  Manufacturing 
population  of  the  State ;  and  an  annual  efflux  of  mil- 
lions of  tons  of  Iron  and  Steel  instead  of  the  present 
influx  of  those  metals ;  and  I  do  not  believe  that  the 
short  way  to  these  results  lies  through  the  abolition  or 
essential  reduction  of  the  duty  on  Pig  Iron.  That  duty 
is  exactly  nine  dollars  per  ton,  which  is  exactly  the  same 
as  it  was  by  the  Calhoun-Lowndes  Tariff  of  1816,  — 
is  the  lowest  specific  duty  ever  imposed  on  Pig  Iron  in 
any  tariff  enacted  from  1815  to  1861  inclusive.  '  I  believe 
it  is  doing  good,  —  nay,  I  know  it.  Under  this  duty, 
10 


218  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

our  annual  product  of  Pig  Iron  has  steadily  increased, 
and  is  now  increasing  more  rapidly  than  ever  before. 
Throughout  the  South,  the  West  and  the  Southwest, 
wherever  Ore  and  Fuel  are  found,  there  the  production 
of  Pig  Iron  has  been  undertaken  or  is  now  eagerly  con- 
templated :  let  it  be  settled  and  understood  that  the 
duty  will  be  maintained,  and  we  shall  have  a  thousand 
more  furnaces  in  operation  within  the  next  two  years. 
If  there  be  a  profit  of  even  $  5  per  ton  on  the  production 
of  Pig  Iron,  that  profit  will  draw  more  and  more  capital 
and  labor  into  the  business,  until  its  product  shall  so 
abound  that  the  price  must  fall  and  the  profit  average 
no  more  than  that  realized  in  other  pursuits.  If  this 
be  not  the  law  of  the  case,  then  there  is  no  such  science 
as  Political  Economy,  and  no  truth  in  the  assumption 
that  water,  left  free  to  do  so,  will  run  down  hill. 

But  it  is  said  that  we  have  been  protecting  the  home 
production  of  Iron  for  half  a  century,  and  that  we  have 
not  yet  cheapened  it  a  fraction  ;  so  that  it  is  high  time 
we  gave  up  the  thriftless  experiment. 

There  are  just  two  grave  mistakes  in  this  assumption  : 
first,  we  have  not  protected  the  production  of  Iron  for 
fifty  years,  nor  even  (steadily)  for  any  twenty  of  them ; 
secondly,  we  have  cheapened  Iron  to  our  consumers  quite 
materially.  On  this  point,  let  me  state  a  few  facts  :  — 

"  The  Merchants  and  Bankers'  Almanac  for  1869  " 
gives  the  monthly  price  in  this  city  of  various  leading 
articles  of  commerce  for  the  forty 'years  from  1825  to 
1864  inclusive,  whence  I  compile  the  following  statis- 
tics :  — 

Average  price  of  Pig  Iron  per  ton  in  1825,          $  59.90  gold. 
Average  price  of  Indian  Corn  per  ton  (40  bush.)     22.10    ' 
Average  price  of  Wheat  per  ton  (37^  bushels)        34.41 
Average  price  of  Upland  Cotton  per  bale  of  400 
pounds 73.66    ' 


AMERICAN   SHIP-BUILDING   AND   SHIPPING.         219 

Cotton  was  exceptionally  high  that  year,  —  very  con- 
siderably higher  than  throughout  the  next,  and  still 
further  above  the  prices  that  ruled  in  several  succeeding 
years ;  yet  whoever  will  compare  the  above  with  the 
prices  recently  or  now  ruling  will  find  that  Iron  now 
costs  our  farmers  considerably  less  in  money  than  it  did 
forty-odd  years  ago,  and  not  half  so  much  in  their  labor 
or  its  products  as  it  then  did.  Our  Agricultural  staples 
have  decidedly  improved  in  price,  while  Iron  costs  fewer 
Greenback  dollars  per  ton  now  than  it  did  Gold  dollars 
in  the  infancy  of  Protection. 

I  know  that  some  hold  that  Iron  would  be  still  cheaper 
if  we  had  never  protected  its  home  production.  They 
argue  that,  since  some  foreign  Iron  sells  here  at  the 
pi-ices  now  ruling,  our  entire  supply  might  be  obtained 
at  those  prices,  less  the  duty,  if  that  duty  were  abolished. 
But  reason,  analogy,  statistics,  alike  testify  that,  if  we 
were  calling  on  Europe  for  nearly  Two  Millions  of  tons 
of  Pig  Iron,  in  addition  to  what  she  now  supplies  us, 
the  prices  charged  for  it  would  be  much  higher  than 
they  are ;  just  as  the  present  ruling  prices  of  Cotton  are 
much  higher,  because  of  the  large  and  eager  foreign  de- 
mand, than  they  would  be  if  no  such  demand  existed. 
Put  out  our  furnace-fires,  or  the  larger  portion  of  them, 
by  compelling  our  iron-masters  to  pay  double  the  cur- 
rent British  prices  for  their  labor,  yet  sell  their  product 
in  even  competition  with  their  British  rivals,  and  it  is 
inevitable  that  the  latter  would  first  crush  out  the 
former  by  underselling,  and  then,  having  obtained  con- 
trol of  the  market,  reimburse  their  outlay  by  charging 
prices  that  would  make  up  their  losses. 

But  I  had  proposed  in  this  essay  to  consider  the  state 
and  prospects  of  American  Ship-building  and  Shipping, 
with  especial  reference  to  the  complaints  of  their  decline 
and  prostration  through  the  influence  (as  is  alleged)  of 
our  Protective  legislation. 


220  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

These  complaints  are  nowise  novel.  No  approach, 
however  timid,  toward  the  Protection  of  our  Home  In- 
dustry, was  ever  made  without  provoking  an  outcry  that 
our  Navigation  and  Foreign  Commerce  were  brought  by 
it  to  the  very  brink  of  ruin.  So  long  ago  as  1824,  Mr. 
Webster,  —  then  a  Free-Trader,  —  addressing  the  House 
in  opposition  to  the  Tariff  of  that  year,  touched  this 
point  as  follows  :  — 

"And  first,  Sir,  as  to  our  foreign  trade.  Mr.  Speaker 
[Clay]  has  stated  that  there  has  been  a  considerable  falling  off 
in  the  tonnage  employed  in  that  trade.  This  is  true,  lamen- 
tably true.  In  my  opinion,  it  is  one  of  those  occurrences 
which  ought  to  arrest  our  immediate,  our  deep,  our  most 
earnest  attention. 

"  What  does  this  bill  propose  for  its  relief?  It  proposes 
nothing  but  new  burdens.  It  proposes  to  diminish  its  em- 
ployment, and  it  proposes,  at  the  same  time,  to  augment  its 
expense,  by'subjecting  it  to  Heavier  taxation.  Sir,  there  is 
no  interest  in  regard  to  which  a  stronger  case  for  Protection 
can  be  made  out  than  the  Navigating  interest.  Whether  we 
look  at  its  present  condition,  which  is  admitted  to  be  de- 
pressed, the  number  of  persons  connected  with  it  and  de- 
pendent upon  it  for  their  daily  bread,  or  its  importance  to  the 
country  in  a  political  point  of  view,  it  has  claims  upon  our  at- 
tention which  cannot  be  surpassed.  But  what  do  we  propose 
to  do  for  it  ?  I  repeat,  Sir,'  simply  to  burden  and  to  tax  it. 
By  a  statement  which  I  have  already  submitted  to  the  Com- 
mittee, it  appears  that  the  shipping  interest  pays,  annually, 
more  than  half  a  million  of  dollars  in  duties  on  articles  used 
in  the  construction  of  ships.  We  propose  to  add  nearly,  or 
quite,  fifty  per  cent,  to  this  amount,  at  the  very  moment  that 
we  appeal  to  the  languishing  state  of  this  interest  as  a  proof  of 
national  distress.  Let  it  be  remembered  that  our  shipping 
employed  in  foreign  commerce  has,  at  this  moment,  not  a 
shadow  of  government  protection.  It  goes  abroad  upon  the 
wide  sea  to  make  its  own  way,  and  earn  its  own  bread,  in  a 
professed  competition  with  the  whole  world.  Its  resources 
are  its  own  frugality,  its  own  skill,  its  own  enterprise.  It 
hopes  to  succeed,  if  it  shall  succeed  at  all,  not  by  extraordi- 


AMERICAN  SHIP-BUILDING   AND   SHIPPING.       221 1 

nary  aid  of  government,  but  by  patience,  vigilance,  and  toil. 
This  right  arm  of  the  nation's  safety  strengthens  its  own 
muscle  by  its  own  efforts,  and,  by  unwearied  exertion  in  its 
own  defence,  becomes  strong  for  the  defence  of  the  country. 

"  No  one  acquainted  with  this  interest  can  deny  that  its 
situation  at  this  moment  is  extremely  critical.  We  have  left 
it  hitherto  to  maintain  itself  or  perish ;  to  swim  if  it  can,  and 
to  sink  if  it  must.  But,  at  this  moment  of  its  apparent  strug- 
gle, can  we  as  men,  can  we  as  patriots,  add  another  stone  to 
the  weight  that  threatens  to  carry  it  down  ? 

"  Sir,  there  is  a  limit  to  human  power,  and  to  human  effort. 
I  know  the  commercial  marine  of  this  country  can  do  almost 
everything,  and  bear  almost  everything.  Yet  some  things 
are  impossible  to  be  done,  and  some  burdens  may  be  impos- 
sible to  be  borne ;  and,  as  it  was  the  last  ounce  that  broke 
the  back  of  the  camel,  so  the  last  tax,  although  it  were  even 
a  small  one,  may  be  decisive  as  to  the  power  of  our  marine 
to  sustain  the  conflict  in  which  it  is  now  engaged  with  all  the 
commercial  nations  of  the  globe." 

All  this  was,  no  doubt,  sincerely,  honestly,  as  well  as 
forcibly,  impressively,  said.  Mr.  Webster,  representing  a 
mercantile,  navigating  constituency,  believed  and  held 
that  Protection  to  Home  Industry  was  necessarily,  im- 
placably, hostile  to  Navigation  and  Foreign  Commerce. 

But  the  Tariff  so  deprecated  by  Mr.  Webster  passed, 
notwithstanding  his  efforts ;  and  the  official  returns  of 
our  Commerce  and  Navigation  exhibit  the  following  re- 
sults :  — 

Enrolled  Enrolled 

TJ.  S.  Tonnage.  and  and 

Registered.  Licensed  Licensed  Total 

Years.        Sail  Tonnage.    Sail  Tonnage.  Steam  Tonnage.        Tonnage. 

1820  619.048  661.119  ....  1,280,167 

1821  619,896  679,062  ....  1,298,958 

1822  628,150  696,549  ....  1,324.699 

1823  639,921  671,766  24,879  1,336,566 

1824  669,973  697,580  21,610  1,389.163 

1825  700.788  699.263  23,061  1.423,112 

1826  737'.978  762,154  34,059  1,534,191 

1827  747^70  833,240  40,198  1,620,608 

1828  812,619  889,355  .  39,418  1,741,392 


222  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

I  have  here  given  the  official  returns  of  our  National 
tonnage  for  the  year  1824  (wherein  Mr.  Webster  talked 
as  above),  also  for  the  four  years  preceding,  and  the 
four  succeeding  respectively,  so  as  to  show  how  far  the 
facts  corresponded  to  or  differed  from  Free  Trade  antici- 
pations. Mr.  Webster  assumed  as  inevitable  that  our 
Tonnage  must  be  reduced  and  our  Navigation  dwindle 
if  the  Tariff  bill  then  pending  should  pass ;  but  it  did 
pass,  nevertheless  ;  and  the  four  years  following  showed 
an  aggregate  of  6,319,303  tons,  against  5,240,390  tons  in 
the  four  years  preceding,  —  an  increase  of  over  twenty  per 
cent.  And  the  official  returns  further  show  that,  whereas 
2,285  vessels  in  all,  aggregating  253,994  tons,  were  built 
in  the  United  States  in  the  four  years  prior  to  1824,  no 
less  than  3,841  vessels,  with  an  aggregate  capacity  of 
439,153  tons,  were  built  during  the  four  years  succeed- 
ing the  passage  of  that  bill.1 

In  the  light  of  these  facts,  I  ask  attention  to  the  fol- 
lowing extract  from  the  memorial2  of  our  City's  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  protesting  against  the  passage  of  that 
same  bill :  — 

"  Besides  the  diminution  of  the  revenue  which  would  arise 
from  smuggling,  there  would  be  a  still  greater  reduction  in  con- 
sequence of  the  enormous  duties  contemplated  by  the  proposed 
bill.  All  the  lower-priced  cotton  goods,  flannels,  and  other 
coarse  woollens,  hemp,  alum,  copperas,  gums,  most  of  the 
enumerated  articles  of  hardware,  and  many  other  articles 
which  now  pay  to  the  Treasury  large  sums  in  duties,  would 
either  cease  to  be  lawfully  imported,  or  would  be  brought  into 
the  country  in  small  quantities ;  and  the  Government  would 
have  to  resort  to  some  [other]  mode  of  taxation  bearing  upon 

1  Annual  Report  of  the  Director  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  the 
Commerce  and  Navigation  of  the  United  States  for  the  Fiscal  Year 
ending  June  30,  1867,  p.  332. 

2  Signed  William  Bayard,  President,  John  Pintard,  Secretary;  dated 
January  23,  and  published  in  The  Evening  Post  of  February  9  1824. 


AMERICAN  SHIP-BUILDING  AND   SHIPPING.       223 

every  part  of  the  community,  in  order  to  supply  the  deficiency 
caused  by  extensive  encouragement  to  a  particular  interest. 

"  The  Kevenue  would  also  decrease  from  a  general  decline 
of  Commerce  and  Navigation.  If  we  prohibit  or  extrava- 
gantly tax  foreign  products,  they  cannot  be  imported  into 
our  country  ;  and,  if  we  do  not  buy  from  other  nations  what 
they  have  to  sell,  and  what  we  want,  can  it  be  expected  that 
they  will  take  from  us  our  commodities  ?  If  we  do  not 
buy,  we  cannot  sell;  for  on  the  supply  of  mutual  wants 
is  founded  all  the  intercourse  and  all  the  Commerce  of  Na- 
tions, and,  when  they  cease  to  be  mutual,  they  cease  to  exist. 
Restrictive  systems  first  operate  on  Commerce,  then  on  Navi- 
gation and  Agriculture  ;  and,  when  those  great  interests  are 
prostrated,  they  necessarily  bring  down  with  them  the  Rev- 
enues of  the  Government." 

The  Treasury  returns x  show  that  the  receipts  of  our 
Government  from  Duties  ou  Imports,  for  the  four  years 
preceding  and  the  four  succeeding  1824,  were  respective- 
ly as  follows  :  — 

1820  $15,005,612  1825     $20,098,713 

1821  13,004,447  1826        23,241,331 

1822  17,589,761  1827        19,712,283 

1823  19,088,433  1828        23,205,523 

Total,  4  yrs.  $  64,688,253  Total,  4  yrs.  $  86,357,850 

Aggregate  excess  in  the  four  years  under  the  Tariff  of 
1824  over  the  four  years  preceding,  $  21,669,597. 

How  many  such  discomfitures  as  this  should  be  re- 
quired to  make  Free-Traders  distrustful  of  the  theories 
which  doom  them  to  such  exposure  ? 

We  are  not  now  building  vessels  extensively,  save  for 
our  domestic  trade,  and  are  not  likely  soon  to  be.  One 
reason  for  this  is  the  great  falling  off  since  our  Civil 
War  in  the  volume  of  our  Cotton  and  other  Southern 

1  Appleton's  Cyclopaedia,  Vol.  XV.  p.  816. 


224  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

staples  which  formed  the  bulk  of  our  exports.  We 
made  Five  Millions  of  bales,  or  One  Million  tons,  of  Cot- 
ton, in  1860 ;  whereas,  we  have  since  the  War  made  but 
Two  Millions  of  bales  to  Two  and  a  Half  per  annum ; 
and  of  this  we  require  a  full  third  for  our  home  con- 
sumption, which  is  quite  as  much  as  we  ever  did. 
Consequently,  we  have  less  than  Two  Millions  for  ex- 
port ;  whereas  we  formerly  had  over  Four  Millions. 
Our  production  of  Rice,  Sugar,  and  Tobacco,  has  like- 
wise fallen  off,  though  now  slowly  recovering.  Of  course, 
we  do  not  need  so  many  ships  as  we  once  did ;  and  the 
great  gaps  in  our  Commercial  Marine  caused  by  the  ex- 
ploits 1  of  the  Confederate  Alabamas,  Shenandoahs,  &c., 
or  by  transfers  (nominal  or  actual)  of  American  vessels 
to  foreigners,  have  not  been  filled ;  for,  if  we  had  had 
the  vessels,  we  lacked  employment  for  them.  And  the 
reduction  of  our  seaboard  tonnage  occurred  simultane- 
ously with  a  great,  though  quiet,  marine  revolution, 
through  the  rapid  displacement  of  sailing  by  steam  ves- 
sels, —  such,  at  least,  as  have  steam  for  an  ultimate  re- 
source, in  the  absence  of  propitious  winds. 

Sir  Morton  Peto,  in  his  notes 2  on  his  visit  to  this 
country,  judiciously  observes  :  — 

'•  In  this  question  of  construction  will,  probably,  be  found 
one  main  difficulty  attending  American  steam  intercourse 

1  The  sales  of  American  vessels  to  foreigners  during  the  forty  years 
closing  with  1867  amounted  to  1,387,752  tons;  whereof  no  less  than 
774,654  tons  —  considerably  more    than   half — were    made   during 
the  four  years  1862-65.     And,  though  a  considerable  proportion  of 
these  sales  were  merely  nominal,  intended  only  to  give  the  vessels 
thereby  transferred  protection  from  Confederate  corsairs  under  a  neutral 
flag,  Congress  has  thus  far  rejected  all  petitions  to  allow  any  of  them 
to  be  again  registered  as  American.    ( See  U.  S.  Annual  Report  of 
Commerce  and  Navigation  for  1867,  p.  xxix.) 

2  The  Resources  and  Prospects  of  America,  ascertained  during  a 
visit  to  the  States  in  the  Autumn  of  1865.    By  Sir  S.  Morton  Peto, 
Bart.    London.     1866. 


AMERICAN   SHIP-BUILDING  AND   SHIPPING.       225 

with  Europe.  They  cannot  construct  steamships  in  the  Unit- 
ed States  to  the  same  advantage  that  we  can  in  Great  Britain. 
Not  only  are  our  rates  of  wages  less,  but  our  steamship-build- 
ing yards  on  the  Clyde,  the  Tyne,  and  the  Mersey,  are  sit- 
uated close  to  the  raw  materials  —  the  Iron  and  the  Coal  — 
required  for  the  purpose  of  steamship  construction.  This 
circumstance  must  always  give  Great  Britain  an  advantage 
over  the  United  States  in  respect  to  navigation  conducted  by 
steamers.  The  first  cost  of  our  steamships  always  will  be 
less ;  and,  the  capital  invested  in  them  being  less,  of  course 
they  can  be  worked  to  advantage  at  lower  rates.  In  addition 
to  this,  we  derive,  at  present,  a  considerable  advantage  from 
the  superior  quality  of  the  steam  coal  with  which  our  ships 
can  be  supplied." 

Here,  you  see,  are  reasons  for  our  backwardness  in 
building  and  running  ocean  steamers  which  no  policy 
could  surmount.  Our  Labor  is  dearer,  our  facilities  for 
the  cheap  production  of  Steamships  less  ample,  than 
those  of  Great  Britain.  While  the  ocean  was  navigat- 
ed by  sail-vessels  almost  exclusively,  the  abundance  and 
cheapness  of  our  Timber  gave  us  advantages  which 
counteracted  the  cheap  Labor  and  Metals  of  our  Euro- 
pean rivals ;  but  we  lost  this  when  steam  was  substitut- 
ed for  wind  as  a  motive  power.  And  not  we  only,  but 
our  Colonial  neighbors  lost  it  as  well.  They  have  cheap 
Labor  and  MetaLs ;  but  Ship-building  has  nevertheless 
deserted  the  St.  Lawrence,  as  well  as  the  Hudson  and 
the  Delaware,  for  the  Clyde,  —  has  abandoned  Nova 
Scotia  as  well  as  Maine.  But  a  small  part  of  it  could 
be  coaxed  back  to  our  shores  by  the  repeal  of  our  Tariff. 
Even  though  that  should  reduce  our  Labor  to  European 
prices,  we  should  still  encounter  obstacles  in  the  capital, 
the  machinery,  the  experience,  the  location,  and  the 
prestige,  of  our  British  rivals,  which  we  could  not  hope 
to  overcome. 

The  complaints  of  stagnation  in  Ship-building  are  not 
10*  o 


226  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

confined  even  to  our  continent.  They  are  (except  as  to 
the  construction  of  iron  steamships  on  the  Clyde  and  at 
a  few  other  favored  localities  in  Europe)  universal.  A 
popular  British  annual1  for  1869,  in  its  "Commercial 
Summary  for  1868-  69,"  says  :  — 

"  In  both  wood  and  iron  ship-building,  general  and  great 
depression  existed  in  1867.  On  the  Thames,  this  almost 
amounted  to  a  suspension  of  the  latter,  causing  the  greatest 
distress  in  the  eastern  parts  of  the  metropolis:  at  least 
40,000  persons  being  rendered  destitute  of  employ.  The 
relative  totals  of  ship-building  in  -1866  and  1867  were  as 
follows  for  all  parts  of  the  kingdom :  — 

Vessels.  Tons. 

1866  .        .        .     2,734  736,499 

1867  .        .        .        2,180  465,899 

Decrease    .        .        .554  270,600 

Facts  and  figures  that  require  no  further  remarks  to  impress 
the  discouraging  character  of  the  trade  for  the  year.  Ship- 
building on  the  Clyde  —  in  respect  to  iron  vessels  —  suffered 
less  than  at  other  ports,  owing  to  the  material  being  on  the 
spot,  and  abundance  of  skilled  labor  at  hand.  The  same 
may  be  remarked  in  reference  to  the  ports  in  the  north  of 
England;  while  the  Mersey  suffered  similar  depression  to 
that  of  the  Thames  district,  owing  to  many  foreign  vessels 
having  passed  into  British  hands.  The  total  registered  ves- 
sels show  an  increase  for  the  year  1867  over  that  of  1866. 
The  registered  tonnage,  &c.,  were  for 

Vessels.  Tons.  Men. 

1867    .        .        40,942          7,277,098         346,606 
1866        .        .     40,912          7,297,984         346,799 

The  chief  source  of  the  increase  of  vessels  was  due  to  the 
sale  of  many  belonging  to  the  United  States  to  British  own- 
ers. In  the  first  eleven  months  of  1867,  British  shipping  de- 
creased to  the  extent  of  378  vessels,  but  increased  to  the 

1  An  Almanack  for  the  Year  of  Our  Lord  1869.  By  Joseph  Whit- 
taker.  London,  p.  367. 


AMERICAN  SHIP-BUILDING  AND   SHIPPING.       227 

extent  of  29,116  tons,  entered  inward.  It  increased  by  1,309 
vessels,  registering  673,910  tons,  cleared  outward;  while 
Foreign  tonnage  decreased  in  comparison  with  1866  to  the 
extent  of  1,034  vessels,  registering  120,543  tons  entered  in- 
ward;  and  increased  573  vessels,  registering  160,990  tons, 
clearing  outward  with  cargo.  In  respect  to  the  value  of 
British  shipping,  an  improvement  arose  with  a  return  of  con- 
fidence in  the  money  market." 

That  this  stagnation  of  the  ship-building  industry  of 
the  Thames  continues,  and  is  complete  and  final,  is  at- 
tested by  the  London  correspondent  of  the  New  York 
Times,  who,  in  a  recent  letter,1  says  :  — 

"  From  the  earliest  dawn  of  British  commerce  down  to  1860, 
the  ship-yards  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames  were  preeminent 
in  the  Old  World  for  the  number  and  excellence  of  the  ves- 
sels which  were  built  upon  their  ways.  All  this  is  changed. 
Since  1860,  their  business  has  fallen  off;  and  now  a  mournful 
scene  of  desolation  greets  a  visitor  to  the  once  famous  yards 
of  Green,  Wigram,  Somes,  and  Young,  all  celebrated  in  their 
day  as  builders  of  the  renowned  Indiamen  of  the  olden  time. 
A  few  of  their  old  frigate-built  ships  still  live,  and  make  their 
annual  voyages  to  Calcutta ;  but,  like  the  New  York  packet- 
ships,  they  are  veterans,  and  are  the  last  of  their  race.  The 
great  works  and  factories  at  Millwall,  once  occupied  by  Scott 
Russell,  are  dismantled  and  closed,  the  machinery  sold,  the 
factories  tenantless,  and  the  building-yard  —  the  birthplace 
of  the  Great  Eastern  —  a  grass-grown  waste.  The  adjoining 
yards  and  foundry  of  Mare  &  Co.,  and  the  London  Engineer- 
ing Company,  are  in  the  same  condition  as  Scott  Russell's  yard. 
Samuda  Brothers,  builders  of  some  eighty  steamers,  some  of 
them  the  fastest  vessels  that  plough  the  seas,  are  idle ;  and  on 
all  the  Isle  of  Dogs,  where  a  few  years  ago  one  could  count 
sixteen  to  twenty  large  steamers,  there  are  now  four  vessels 
only.  One  of  the  four  is  the  double-screw  monitor  Abyssinia, 
for  the  British  Government.  The  other  three  are  fast  steam- 
ers for  the  opium-trade  on  the  coast  of  China ;  and  these  three 
opium  smugglers  are  the  only  merchant  vessels  now  building 

1  Dated  Sept.  3;  printed  Oct.  11, 1869. 


228  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

upon  the  once  prolific  Thames.  At  the  Thames  Iron  Works, 
below  Blackwall,  —  one  of  the  most  complete  and  extensive 
ship-building  works  in  the  kingdom,  —  I  saw  the  double-screw 
monitor  Magdala,  which,  with  the  Abyssinia,  is  to  go  out  to 
Bombay,  and  remain  there  to  defend  that  harbor,  and  two 
casemate  iron-clads  for  the  Sultan  of  Turkey,  but  not  one 
merchant  steamer.  The  Thames  Company  built  most  of  the 
steamers  in  the  Peninsula  and  Oriental  Company's  fleet,  and 
have  also  built  several  steamers  for  the  Royal  Mail  Company ; 
but  both  companies  have  deserted  the  Thames  for  the  cheaper 
yards  on  the  Clyde,  and  this  establishment,  like  those  higher 
up  the  river,  seems  to  be  doomed. 

"  The  prosperity  of  London  as  a  ship-building  port  is  at  an 
end,  and  no  one  here  looks  for  a  revival  of  the  business.  All 
admit  that  they  cannot  compete  with  the  cheaper  iron,  cheaper 
coal,  and  cheaper  labor,  of  the  Tyne  and  the  Clyde.  Hence- 
forth, the  ships  and  steamers  required  to  carry  on  the  vast 
sea-borne  commerce  of  London  will  be  built  in  the  North. 
Even  the  old  London  ship-builders,  who  are  also  ship-owners, 
are  now  ordering  vessels  from  their  northern  rivals,  and  a 
very  large  proportion  of  the  tonnage  now  on  the  stocks  on 
the  Clyde  and  Tyne  is  for  London  owners,  who  long  held  to 
the  belief  that  London  was  the  only  place  in  the  world  where 
a  good  ship  could  be  built.  In  the  principal  docks,  the  changed 
character  of  the  ships  which  now  carry  on  the  trade  of  Lon- 
don with  distant  ports  is  very  marked.  Twelve  years  ago, 
the  East  India  trade  with  London  was  carried  in  London- 
built  and  American-built  ships.  More  than  one  hundred  of 
the  latter  arrived  in  London,  from  India,  in  one  year ;  and  it 
was  no  unusual  thing  to  see  a  dozen  or  fifteen  large  American 
clippers  discharging  cargo  in  the  East  India  docks.  Alas! 
the  East  India  docks  know  them  no  more  !  They  have  dis- 
appeared, and  their  places  are  filled  by  the  iron  and  composite 
clippers  of  the  Clyde  and  the  Tyne.  The  downfall  of  the  vast 
ship-building  industry  of  London  has  been  attended  with 
wide-spread  and  bitter  distress ;  many  thousands  of  workmen 
have  been  thrown  out  of  their  accustomed  employment,  '  not 
for  a  day,  but  for  all  time.'  Vigorous  efforts  have  been  made 
to  obtain  work  for  some  of  the  yards  for  the  sole  purpose  of 


AMERICAN  SHIP-BUILDING   AND   SHIPPING.       229 

relieving  the  operatives ;  but  it  is  now  settled  that  nothing 
can  be  done,  and  many  of  the  poor  have  been  assisted  to  emi- 
grate to  the  north  and  to  the  Colonies.  The  eastern  builders, 
with  only  two  or  three  exceptions,  have  abandoned  the  busi- 
ness of  building,  and  only  wait  an  opportunity  to  let  out  their 
prernises  to  some  more  profitable  industry." 

The  same  correspondent,  writing  from  Liverpool,  at  a 
later  day,1  says  :  — 

"  The  fact  that  ships  built  of  wood  have  greatly  depreciated 
in  value  within  the  past  ten  years  is  amply  confirmed  by  the 
present  condition  of  the  ship-building  business  of  New  Bruns- 
wick and  the  other  British  American  provinces.  Before  iron 
ships  came  into  general  use,  a  large  and  thriving  ship-building 
business  was  carried  on  at  St.  John's  and  other  provincial 
towns.  The  new  ships  were  sent  over  here,  and  sold  at  prices 
which  paid  their  builders  a  satisfactory  profit.  Scores  of  such 
ships  were  sold  in  a  single  season  at  about  £  9  sterling  per 
ton ;  but  now  a  good  new  St.  John's  ship  will  not  sell  here 
for  £  5  sterling  per  ton :  for  there  is  no  demand  for  them  here, 
and  the  business  of  building  large  ships  in  British  America  is 
destroyed.  The  builders  there  are  no  longer  able  to  compete 
with  the  British  builders  of  iron  ships,  and  they  can  no  longer 
sell  a  new  ship  for  a  price  which  will  cover  the  cost  of  con- 
struction. The  destruction  of  ship-building  in  New  Bruns- 
wick cannot  be  charged  upon  a  high  tariff  or  disordered  cur- 
rency, nor  upon  advanced  rates  for  labor  or  other  charges  con- 
nected with  ship-building.  Materials  and  labor  are  cheaper 
there  than  they  were  ten  years  ago :  and  contracts  to  build 
ships  are  now  offered  at  much  cheaper  rates  than  those  which 
obtained  when  ship-building  was  a  profitable  pursuit.  Ships 
entitled  to  a  seven  years'  class  at  Lloyd's  can  now  be  con- 
tracted for  at  St.  John's  at  £5  sterling  per  ton;  but  no  one 
on  this  side  of  the  water  will  take  them,  even  at  that  low 
figure.  The  only  business  left  to  the  New  Brunswick  and 
Nova  Scotia  ship-builder  is  the  building  of  vessels  of  small 
tonnage  to  trade  between  the  Provinces  and  the  United 
States,  and  between  the  United  States  and  the  West  Indies. 

l  Sept.  30 ;  printed  Oct.  80. 


230  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

In  both  those  trades,  they  compete  only  with  the  wooden 
vessels  of  the  United  States,  and  not  with  the  iron  ships  and 
steamers  of  Europe." 

Perhaps  I  ought  not  to  close  this  chapter  without  allud- 
ing to  the  spirited  and  measurably  successful  attempt  to 
naturalize  the  building  of  iron  steamers  at  Wilmington, 
Delaware,  by  the  Harlan  and  Hollingsworth  Company. 
The  Iron  Age,  lately  constructed  by  them  (and  this  is 
by  no  means  their  first  vessel),  is  commended  by  good 
judges  as  a  strong,  swift,  and  every  way  serviceable,  sea- 
going steamship  of  650  tons,  built  at  a  cost  of  $  85  per 
ton  for  the  hull,  and  $  15  per  ton  for  the  rigging  ;  while 
the  aggregate  British  cost  of  similar  steamers  is  $  94 
per  ton.  The  builders  say  that  the  Pennsylvania  iron, 
which  they  use  exclusively,  is  of  better  quality  than  its 
British  rival ;  so  that  our  plates  are  one-eighth  thinner, 
while  the  Oak  and  Ash  exclusively  used  for  the  wood- work 
are  cheaper  here  than  in  England,  and  the  aggregate  cost 
of  hull  not  $  1  per  ton  higher  than  that  of  an  equally  good 
vessel  built  on  the  Clyde.  The  cost  of  rigging  here  is, 
however,  forty  per  cent,  greater  than  in  Great  Britain. 
I  give  these  statistics  as  I  received  them,  without  infer- 
ring therefrom  that  the  building  of  iron  ships  is  soon 
to  become  an  important  and  prosperous  department  of 
our  National  Industry. 

The  Hon.  George  Opdyke,  an  eminent  Free-Trader, 
touched  the  corner  of  an  important  truth  when  he  ob- 
served : l  — 

"  It  is  a  universal  truth  that  the  more  populous  a  country 
becomes,  the  less  of  agricultural  products  will  be  exported 
from  it,  because  it  will  require  a  larger  part  of  them  for  home 
consumption.  Increasing  density  of  population  always  tends 
to  develop  the  manufacturing,  mining,  and  mechanic  arts ; 

l  Proceedings  and  Debates  in  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  p.  1443. 


AMERICAN   SHIP-BUILDING  AND   SHIPPING.       231 

and,  when  the  population  grows  so  dense  that  it  consumes 
more  agricultural  products  than  it  produces,  —  like  England, 
for  example,  —  it  necessarily  becomes  an  importer  of  agricul- 
tural products  and  an  exporter  of  manufactures.  During  the 
period  of  transition,  the  foreign  commerce  of  a  nation  must 
gradually  diminish." 

We  entered  largely  into  the  Ocean  Steamship  business 
some  fifteen  years  ago,  and  persisted  in  it  till  our  ener- 
gies were  absorbed  in  our  great  Civil  War ;  but  it  proved 
a  costly  undertaking  to  our  Treasury  (by  means  of  heavy 
subsidies  for  Mail  service),  and  not  very  profitable  to 
those  engaged  in  it :  so  we  have  almost  wholly  ceased  to 
run  steamers  to  Europe  ;  contenting  ourselves  with  subsi- 
dized lines  to  China  and  Japan,  also  to  Brazil,  with  small- 
er packets  to  Havana,  the  Isthmus  of  Darien,  and  a  few 
points  of  minor  importance.  While  we  did  run  steamers 
to  European  ports,  they  encountered  this  obstacle  to 
success  :  Most  of  the  freight  that  could  afford  to  pay 
steamship  charges  consisted  of  British,  French,  and  Ger- 
man manufactures,  shipped  by  the  makers  and  their 
agents,  who,  very  naturally,  gave  a  preference  over  our 
vessels  to  those  of  their  own  countrymen,  leaving  our 
ships  to  run  empty  or  to  fill  up  with  freight  that  did  not 
pay  their  running  expenses.  This  competition  was  so 
manifestly  one-sided  that  our  merchants  were  glad  to 
abandon  it. 

What  would  exactly  serve  and  suit  our  shippers  and 
ship-builders  would  be  Protection  for  our  Navigating  in- 
terest, and  for  nothing  else.  Give  them  foreign  Iron 
and  Copper,  Hemp  and  Cordage,  Anchors  and  Cables, 
free  of  duty,  with  a  monopoly  of  our  Coasting  Trade, 
and  a  favoring  discrimination  in  our  Navigation  laws 
and  port-charges,  and  they  might  experience  an  instant 
enlargement  of  activity  and  revival  of  prosperity  ;  but, 
if  we  had  no  National  Debt,  and  no  Tariff  at  all,  but 


232  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

the  most  absolute  Free  Trade,  with  our  Labor  far 
cheaper  than  now,  as  it  naturally  would  be,  the  advan- 
tage would  still  (as  Sir  Morton  Peto  shows)  be  on  the 
side  of  their  British  rivals,  who  have,  through  years  of 
prosperous  activity  in  the  construction  and  use  of  sea- 
going steamers,  accumulated  a  thousand  facilities  and 
labor-saving  devices,  which,  along  with  experience,  emi- 
nent skill,  and  aggregated  capital,  we  have  still  to  ac- 
quire and  concentrate.  Ocean  steamers  are  still  rapidly 
superseding  sailing  vessels ;  and  those  steamers  are  and 
will  be  mainly  built  and  run  by  nations  that  produce  a 
surplus  of  manufactures,  and  are  constantly  exploring 
the  out-of-the-way  corners  of  the  earth  for  new  markets 
wherein  to  sell  them.  For  our  country  to  rush  into  the 
establishment  of  lines  of  ocean  steamships  before  largely 
protecting  and  extending  her  manufactures,  would  be 
like  beginning  to  construct  a  house  at  the  attic,  and 
thence  building  downward  to  the  foundations. 

Our  Ship-building  and  Navigation  will  revive,  not  be- 
fore, but  in  consequence  of,  the  firm  establishment  and 
prosperity  of  our  Home  Industry.  Let  us  thoroughly 
develop  our  Mining  and  Manufacturing  capacities,  and 
their  command  of  machinery  and  power  will  enable  us  to 
produce  cheaply  Wares  and  Fabrics  now  exported  only 
by  European  nations,  whose  cheap  labor  and  ripe  experi- 
ence give  them  advantages  over  us,  but  whom,  under  a 
wise  policy,  we  shall  yet  overtake  and  pass,  as  we  have 
already  done  in  the  production  of  Edge  Tools,  Ploughs 
and  most  Agricultural  Implements,  Nails,  Pins,  and  a 
hundred  articles  of  general  utility  and  great  value,  but 
which  —  simply  because  they  are  made  by  ourselves,  or 
at  our  own  doors  —  do  not  figure  in  our  Treasury  Re- 
ports, and  are  not  regarded  as  elements  of  our  National 
Commerce  and  Wealth. 


CREDIT  —  ITS  USES  AND  ABUSES.  233 


XVII. 

CREDIT  — ITS   USES  AND  ABUSES  —  FOREIGN 
INDEBTEDNESS  — OUR  NATIONAL  DEBT. 

WE  are  a  young  people,  largely  employed  in  the  slow 
and  rugged  process  of  clearing  away  the  primitive  forest, 
breaking  up  natural  prairie,  building,  fencing,  draining, 
and  in  every  way  subduing  and  adapting  the  earth  to 
the  uses  of  civilized  man.  We  are  a  sanguine  people, 
with  xmbounded  faith  in  our  own  capacity,  and  in  the 
rapid  growth  of  our  country  in  population,  wealth,  and 
power.  We  are  an  aspiring,  audacious  people,  and 
choose  to  direct  rather  than  be  directed.  Our  boys  are 
eager  to  be  men ;  our  young  men  want  to  "  get  into 
business  "  forthwith.  Being  a  people  of  yesterday,  we 
have  less  accumulated  wealth  than  we  probably  shall 
have  centuries  hence,  or  than  the  peoples  of  Europe 
have  generally  acquired.  And,  young  as  we  are,  intelli- 
gence and  enterprise  are  quite  generally  diffused  among 
us,  so  that  we  seek  to  achieve  our  industrial  ends  by  the 
use  of  machinery,  animals,  steam,  where  ruder  and  more 
ignorant  workers  rely  wholly  or  mainly  on  human  muscle. 
We  are  epicurean,  sumptuous,  profuse,  prone  to  ostenta- 
tion, and  reckless  of  expense.  Too  many  of  us  shun 
productive  industry,  and  seek  subsistence,  success,  wealth, 
eminence,  through  Trade,  Speculation,  or  one  of  the 
Professions.  Hence,  we  require  capital  much  faster  than 
we  create  it,  and  are  prone  to  run  into  debt.  We  ran 
into  debt  as  colonists  ;  we  borrowed  from  France  and 
Holland  to  sustain  our  War  for  Independence ;  and 
Shays's  Rebellion  and  kindred  disturbances  were  incited 


234  POLITICAL  ECONOMY.  ' 

by  a  general  and  agonizing  pressure  of  debt.  The  Fed- 
eral Constitution  and  Government,  insuring  greater 
stability  and  prosperity  than  we  had  previously  enjoyed, 
enabled  us  to  extend  the  sphere  of  our  borrowing,  and 
to  incur  mercantile  and  corporate  as  well  as  National 
obligations  in  Europe ;  to  which  State  debts  were  soon 
added.  When  we  had  low  tariffs,  we  incurred  debts 
abroad ;  when  the  duties  were  raised,  we  left  those  debts 
unpaid,  and  sometimes  incurred  new.  Thus  we  had 
gone  on,  until,  at  the  outbreak  of  our  Secession  troubles, 
we  were  owing  Europe,  mainly  in  the  shape  of  State, 
Railroad,  and  other  corporate  bonds,  not  less  than  Four 
Hundred  Millions  of  Dollars. 

In  the  first  two  years  of  the  War  we  added  little  to 
this  aggregate ;  for  the  first  year,  nothing.  We  con- 
tinued to  export  Grain,  Lard,  and  some  Meats ;  we 
soon  began  to  export  Petroleum ;  our  export  of  Cheese 
steadily  increased  ;  and  we  bought  Fabrics  less  freely 
than  we  had  previously  done,  partly  because  a  novel 
and  absorbing  sensation  had  dwarfed  the  passion  for 
dress  and  display  ;  partly  because  our  internal  credit 
system  had  broken  down,  and  rural  traders,  no  longer 
able  to  replenish  their  stocks  on  credit,  bought  little  or 
nothing.  But,  long  before  the  close  of  our  four  years' 
struggle,  we  had  established  new  credits,  mainly  through 
the  sale  abroad  of  the  bonds  representing  our  rapidly 
expanding  War  Debt,  had  suddenly  enriched  a  large 
class  through  contracts  and  other  operations,  popularly 
grouped  under  the  designation  of  "  Shoddy,"  and  had 
run  heavily  into  debt  for  Army  Blankets,  Nitre,  &c.,  &c., 
which  we  paid  for  mainly  in  bonds.  Thus  the  last  two 
years  of  the  War  saw  our  Foreign  indebtedness  largely 
increased,  while  its  close  found  the  shelves  of  our  inland 
stores  nearly  bare  of  Fabrics,  and  their  supply  of  Gro- 
ceries very  limited.  Throughout  the  States  lately  domi- 


CREDIT  —  ITS  USES  AND  ABUSES.  235 

nated  by  the  Rebellion  there  was  an  absolute  dearth  of 
merchandise ;  while  Cattle  had  been  swept  off  and  Im- 
plements destroyed  or  worn  out  during  the  progress  of 
the  contest.  To  fill  up  our  stores  with  an  average  assort- 
ment, at  least  Two  Hundred  Millions'  worth  of  Goods 
were  imperatively  required  ;  while  evidences  of  National 
indebtedness,  diffused  through  purchases  of  supplies  and 
the  paying  off  of  our  armies,  were  cheap,  abundant, 
and  very  widely  sown.  Our  National  credit,  which  had 
ruled  low  abroad  throughout  1863  and  1864,  was  natural- 
ly much  improved  by  the  completeness  of  the  National 
triumph,  so  that  our  bonds  temporarily  sold  for  more  in 
Europe  than  they  were  worth  (in  gold)  at  home.  Hence, 
in  spite  of  the  restraining  influence  of  our  Tariff,  which 
had  been  once  more  rendered  Protective  in  1861,  and 
was  somewhat  increased  on  sundry  articles  in  1864  and 
1865,  we  imported  heavily  during  the  three  years  fol- 
lowing the  close  of  our  struggle,  though  our  crops  (at 
the  South  especially)  of  exportable  produce  were  quite 
light,  and  their  prices  much  reduced  by  the  return  of 
peace.  During  the  last  year  or  two  our  National  In- 
dustry has  been  moi*e  efficient,  while  the  price  of  Cot- 
ton has  been  more  remunerative  to  the  grower  ;  but  we 
are  in  debt  to  Europe  not  less  than  One  Thousand  Mil- 
lions of  Dollars,  about  three-fourths  of  it  in  the  form  of 
National  bonds  or  obligations ;  the  residue  almost  wholly 
composed  of  State  bonds  and  those  of  Railroads  and 
other  corporations.  The  annual  interest  on  this  vast 
burden  cannot  fall  below  Sixty  Millions  of  Dollars  in 
gold ;  and  our  Exports  (including  Specie)  should  over- 
balance our  Imports  by  at  least  this  amount. 

But  they  do  not ;  they  rarely  or  never  did  ;  and  it 
were  bold  to  predict  that,  so  long  as  Europe  will  trust 
us  further,  they  ever  will.  Thus  far,  we  pay  our  quar- 
terly accruing  coupons  of  interest  by  exporting  and  sell- 


236  POLITICAL   ECONOMY. 

ing  more  bonds.  About  every  fourth  year,  Europe  has  a 
short  crop  of  Grain,  and  then  we  supply  her  needs  large- 
ly at  fair  prices ;  but  our  great  grain-growing  districts 
are  too  remote  and  too  far  inland  to  enable  us  to  com- 
pete on  equal  terms  with  the  wheat-growers  of  Poland 
and  of  Southern  Russia  for  the  capricious  markets  of 
Great  Britain  and  of  France.  Of  Sugar,  Rice,  Wool, 
Metals,  and  nearly  every  Textile  Fabric,  we  need  all  we 
produce  and  more  too  ;  our  Exports  are  nearly  restricted 
to  a  few  bulky  staples,  —  Cotton,  Cheese,  Lard,  Bacon, 
Petroleum,  &c.,  &c.  We  are  constructing  Railroads 
more  rapidly  and  generally  than  we  ever  did  prior  to 
1868  ;  we  are  opening  mines,  building  factories  and  fur- 
naces, erecting  nouses,  and  converting  forest  and  prairie 
into  farms ;  and  all  these  involve  heavy  present  outlay 
to  achieve  prospective  benefits.  These  all  strongly  tend 
to  keep  up  the  prices  of  every  commodity,  stimulate  Im- 
ports, diminish  Exports,  and  so  to  increase  the  sum 
total  of  our  indebtedness  abroad.  We  are  adding  not 
less  than  Two  Billions  per  annum  to  our  aggregate 
wealth ;  but  we  do  this  at  the  cost  of  increasing,  by 
perhaps  One  Hundred  Millions  annually,  the  sum  of  our 
foreign  debt. 

We  have  an  Irredeemable  Currency,  —  that  is,  a  Cur- 
rency which  is  not  exchangeable  for  the  specie  dollars  it 
would  seem  to  represent,  unless  at  a  heavy  and  capri- 
cious discount.  By  consequence,  the  nominal  price  of 
every  commodity  is  from  twenty  to  fifty  per  cent,  higher 
than  its  real  price,  regarding  coin  as-  a  standard.  A  bar- 
rel of  Flour  or  a  ton  of  Coal  sold  for  $  10  really  brings 
but  $  7  to  $  8  ;  so  with  all  prices  of  Pi-oduce ;  so  with 
the  wages  of  Labor.  Nothing  is  currently  estimated  at 
its  real  or  specie  value  but  Duties  on  Imports  and  the 
bonded  National  Debt. 

There  are  those  who  fancy  these  illusory  prices  and 


FOREIGN  INDEBTEDNESS.  237 

valuations  advantageous  to  our  Home  Manufactures  ;  I 
never  could  accept  their  premises  nor  comprehend  their 
logic.  A  ton  of  Pig  Iron  that  sells  for  $  40  in  currency 
really  brings  less  than  $  30  when  Gold  is  135  ;  the  con- 
sumer who  buys  Iron  rarely  considers  that  whatever  he 
produces  or  sells  is  estimated  or  priced  by  the  same  de- 
lusive standard,  but  fancies  that  Iron  is  dearer  than  for- 
merly. The  duties  on  Iron  are  considerably  lower  than 
those  levied  by  the  Tariff  of  1828,  of  1824,  or  even  of 
1816  ;  but  a  Free-Trader  adds  35  or  40  per  cent,  for  dif- 
ference in  currency,  and  tells  the  farmer  that  Pig  Iron 
now  enjoys  a  Protection  of  $13  @  $14;  whereas,  it 
used  to  have  but  $  10.  Every  little  trickster  who  ma- 
nipulates figures  in  the  Importing  interest  will  tell  you 
that  a  certain  duty  is  20,  30,  or  40  per  cent,  in  gold ;  as 
though  it  were  the  least  fraction  more  than  exactly  20, 
30,  or  40  per  cent,  as  the  case  may  be  :  the  value  being 
given  in  gold  as  well  as  the  duty  ;  so  that  20  per  cent, 
is  exactly  one-fifth  of  the  invoice  value,  and  neither 
more  nor  less  than  if  it  were  computed  in  currency.  If 
an  inflated,  factitious,  irredeemable  Currency  were  favor- 
able to  the  prosperity  of  Manufactures,  then  Hayti 
ought  to  be  able  to  beat  the  world  in  manufacturing ; 
for  her  Government  paper  currency  is  at  a  discount  of 
900  or  over  for  one. 

I  firmly  believe  that  our  inflated  Currency  is  injurious 
to  Manufactures,  as  to  every  other  producing  interest,  — 
that  it  were  better  for  all  who  eschew  speculation  and 
try  to  live  by  honest  industry  if  we  were  down  on  rock 
bottom  this  moment.  I  am  not  warring  upon  those  who 
hold  and  teach  that  there  might  and  should  be  a  Paper 
Currency  devised  and  adopted  which  should  be  irredeem- 
able in  coin,  yet  more  beneficent  than  any  we  have  yet 
had  :  I  only  insist  that  a  Paper  Currency  should  express 
on  its  face  its  true  charactei-,  —  should  declare  precisely 


238  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

where,  when,  and  in  what  medium  it  is  payable,  or,  if 
not  payable  at  all,  should  make  manifest  that  fact.  I 
am  quite  impressed  with  the  arguments  in  favor  of  issu- 
ing $10,000,  $5,000,  $1,000,  $500,  and  even  $100 
bills,  drawing  interest  at  the  rate  of  3^^  per  annum 
(or  one  cent  per  day  on  each  $  100) :  so  that  a  man  who 
travelled  with  $  50,000  in  his  pocket  or  trunk,  at  an  av- 
erage cost  of  $  5  per  day,  might  defray  his  expenses  from 
the  interest  of  his  cash  in  hand.  I  believe  we  can  and 
must  ultimately  devise  the  means  of  making  our  Na- 
tional Debt  more  fluid  than  it  is,  and  that  this  would 
help  us  to  reduce  the  rate  of  interest,  and  thus  render 
the  burden  far  less  serious. 

I  am  of  that  old-fashioned  school  which  can  see  in  a 
National  Debt  no  National  blessing,  but  the  contrary, 
though  some  of  its  incidents  may  seem  beneficent.  We 
are  paying  about  $  125,000,000  per  annum  in  gold  as  in- 
terest on  our  great  National  Debt,  —  more  than  Great 
Britain  pays,  though  the  principal  of  her  Debt  is  to  ours 
as  40  is  to  25.  If  we  could  reduce  the  interest  of  our 
Five-Twenties  alone  from  six  to  four  per  cent.,  the  saving 
to  the  Federal  Treasury  would  exceed  Thirty  Millions  per 
annum,  —  a  sum  that,  invested  in  a  Sinking  Fund,  would 
pay  off  the  last  dollar  of  our  Debt  within  the  next  forty 
years.  In  my  view,  a  cardinal  object  of  our  National 
policy  should  be  the  funding  of  our  redeemable  debt  at 
a  low  rate  of  interest  at  the  earliest  possible  day. 

To  effect  this,  we  must  have  an  ample  current  Reve- 
nue, so  as  to  be  constantly  buying  up  and  cancelling  evi- 
dences of  National  Debt.  So  long  as  we,  in  addition  to 
paying  our  interest  promptly  and  honestly,  bxiy  up  Five 
to  Ten  Millions  per  month  of  the  principal  of  our  Debt, 
its  market  value  must  continue  to  appreciate,  unless  the 
holders  be  rendered  apprehensive  that  Repudiation  is 
likely  to  gain  the  ascendency  in  our  Government  and  give 


OUR  NATIONAL  DEBT.  239 

effect  to  some  scheme  for  cheating  the  creditors  of  the 
Republic.  This  peril  being  dissipated  or  reduced  to  a 
minimum,  our  bonds  should  steadily  appreciate,  until  we 
can  easily  fund  the  Five-Twenties  at  a  far  lower  rate  of 
interest  than  the  six  per  cent,  we  now  pay,  and  thus 
signally  reduce  the  weight  of  our  Debt.  By  that  time, 
the  difference  between  our  Greenbacks  and  Coin  should 
be  wholly  effaced,  so  that  the  former  should  be  redeemed 
with  coin  when  presented  for  payment  at  the  Treasury, 
and  our  Currency  be  uniform  in  value  with  the  number 
of  dollars  expressed  on  its  face. 

But  this  involves  lower  prices  for  Produce  and  for 
Goods,  and  will  be  strenuously  resisted  by  multitudes, 
who  find  or  fancy  that  they  profit  by  inflation.  Some 
of  these  are  deeply  in  debt ;  others  have  property  which 
they  wish  to  sell  at  higher  prices ;  many  are  involved  in 
speculations  which  require  an  easy  money  market  to 
insure  an  advantageous  result.  By  all  these  and  by 
others,  Resumption  will  be  fought  step  by  step  ;  and  I 
shall  be  agreeably  disappointed  if  Congress  is  not  agitat- 
ed, at  an  early  period  of  the  ensuing  session,  by  a  stren- 
uous effort  to  arrest  the  purchases  of  Debt  which  Sec- 
retary Boutwell  has  so  successfully  inaugurated,  and 
return  to  the  hoarding  practice  —  it  were  to  dignify  it 
overmuch  to  term  it  a  policy  —  of  Secretary  McCulloch. 

And  one  ready  mode  of  assault  on  the  National  Credit 
is  afforded  by  an  effort  to  cut  down  the  Tariff  to  what  is 
called  a  Revenue  standard.  Though  no  Tariff  framed 
avowedly  for  Revenue  ever  yielded  nearly  so  much  money 
as  we  are  now  realizing  from  a  Tariff  avowedly  Protective, 
we  shall  be  told  that  we  may  obtain  as  large  an  income 
from  low  duties  on  a  few  aiiicles  as  from  high  duties  on 
many,  and  a  desperate  struggle  will  be  made  to  recast  the 
Tariff  on  this  assumption  as  an  economic  truth.  This 
will  be  backed  by  every  avowed  or  secret  champion  of 


240  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

National  dishonesty ;  for,  while  there  are  many  Free- 
Traders  who  abhor  Repudiation,  ihere  are  not  a  dozen 
Repudiators  in  the  country  who  are  not  vehement  Free- 
Traders.  Should  this  formidable  combination  triumph, 
the  payment  of  the  principal  of  our  National  Debt  will 
be  arrested,  the  funding  of  the  Five-Twenties  at  a  lower 
rate  of  interest,  with  consequent  reduction  of  the  public 
burden,  will  be  rendered  impossible,  the  resumption  of 
Specie  Payments  will  be  indefinitely  postponed,  and  the 
country  will  be  doomed  to  flounder  in  an  abyss  of  insol- 
vency and  discredit,  until  an  aroused  and  enlightened 
public  sentiment  shall  hurl  from  power  the  authors  of 
these  wanton,  pervading  disasters. 

There  is  an  opposite  course,  infinitely  wiser  and  safer, 
which  I  trust  will  be  taken  or  persisted  in ;  whereof  the 
outlines  are  as  follows  :  — 

1.  Sternly  resolve  that  we  will  persist  in  paying  our 
National  Debt,  and  every  fraction  of  it,  precisely  as  we 
agreed  to  pay  it,  —  as  we  were  understood  to  stipulate  at 
the  time   of  contracting   it,  —  and   thus   establish   our 
credit  so  firmly  that  capitalists  will  be  eager  to  lend  us 
the  means  of  redeeming  at  a  far  lower  rate  of  interest 
the  obligations  on  which  we  are  now  paying  six  per  cent., 
and  on  which  the  right  of  redemption  has  already  ac- 
crued or  will  soon  be  unquestionable. 

2.  Resolutely  set  apart  and  consecrate  every  dollar  we 
thus  save,  to  be  devoted  to  the  payment  or  purchase  of 
principal  of  our  National  Debt,  in  addition  to  the  "  one 
per  cent,  per  annum"  which  we  are  already  pledged  to 
pay  by  the  Legal  Tender  act  of  1862. 

3.  Make  no  changes  in  the  essential  provisions  of  our 
existing  Tariff;  correct  from  time  to  time  any  discrepan- 
cies or  errors  of  detail   that   may  be   discovered ;  but 
leave  it  so  that  it  will  yield  about  the  amount  of  revenue 
we  are  now  receiving  from  it,  and  appropriate  the  sur- 


OUR  NATIONAL   DEBT.  241 

plus  inflexibly  to  paying  interest  and  principal  of  the 
Debt. 

4.  Reduce  our  internal  imposts  or  excise  on  Whiskey, 
Tobacco,  and  other  articles  heavily  charged,  whenever  it 
is  proved  that  we  may  do  so  without  loss  of  revenue, 
but  retain  them  at  a  figure  high  enough  to  defray  the 
current  cost  of  supporting  the   Government  after  the 
Income  Tax  (which  expires  by  limitation  next  year)  shall 
have  ceased  to  be  productive. 

5.  Maintain  in  prosperous  activity  all  the  industrial 
pursuits  we  already  possess,  and  endeavor  to  extend  our 
'production  of  Iron,  Gold,  Silver,  Copper,  and  other  Met- 
als, while  encouraging  and  extending  the  production  on 
our  soil  of  Tea,  Sugar,  the  Grape,  the  Olive,  &c.,  &c., 
with  no  expectation  of  supplying  all  our  wants  from  do- 
mestic sources,  but  with  a  resolute,  firm,  intelligent  pur- 
pose that  our  Exports  shall  soon  be  made  to  overbalance 
our  Imports,  so  that  we  may  cease  transmitting  to  Eu- 
rope bonds  which  are  really  mortgages  on  the  industry 
and  products  of  our  grandchildren,   and   begin  to   call 
back  and  pay  off  the  large  amount  we  already  owe  there, 
with  intent  that  the  close  of  this  century  shall  find  us 
out  of  debt  as  a  Nation  and  out  of  debt  to  Europe  as 
individuals,  companies,  or  States. 

Such  are  the  outlines  of  a  policy  which  commends  it- 
self to  my  understanding  as  honest,  beneficent,  condu- 
cive to  National  solvency,  and  truly  American. 

I  believe  that  it  will  take  us  gradually  and  surely  back 
to  Specie  Payments ;  but  I  do  not  imagine  that  it  would 
restore  us  the  low  prices  of  forty,  of  twenty,  nor  even  of 
ten  years  ago.  The  enormous  production  since  1848 
of  Gold  and  Silver  in  California,  Australia,  and  else- 
where, has  permanently  increased  the  volume  of  the 
world's  currency,  and  thus  enhanced  the  money  price  of 
almost  every  description  of  property  :  blot  all  paper 
11  p 


242  POLITICAL   ECONOMY. 

money  out  of  existence,  and  still  prices  would  usually 
range  higher  than  they  were  twenty  years  ago.  But  we 
have  lately  incurred  a  great  Debt,  involving  heavy  taxa- 
tion; and  such  a  Debt  of  itself  strongly  tends  to  en- 
hanced prices,  as  Great  Britain,  Holland,  and  (more 
recently)  France,  amply  attest.  The  general  range  of 
prices  is  and  must  be  higher  in  a  country  largely  in- 
dqbted  and  heavily  taxed  than  in  that  same  or  any  sim- 
ilar country  which  owes  but  little  or  nothing,  and  is 
taxed  accordingly.  Destroy  all  the  specie  that  has  been 
mined, or  worked  out  since  1848,  close  up  the  mines,  and 
still  prices  would  be  higher  with  us  than  they  were  prior 
to  our  late  Civil  War. 

Yet  the  habits  and  impulses  of  a  people  are  not  easily 
modified,  while  they  are  rarely  and  with  great  difficulty 
transformed.  The  fact  that  three-fourths  of  us  would 
incur  debt  if  any  one  stood  ready  to  lend,  and,  if  already 
in  debt,  would  like  to  plunge  in  still  deeper,  is  the  fun- 
damental difficulty  of  our  financial  position.  The  poor 
man  would  like  to  louy  a  farm  or  start  a  shop  or  store  on 
credit ;  if  he  has  already  a  place  whereon  to  stand,  he 
wants  a  better  house,  or  a  new  barn,  or  a  convenient 
wood-lot,  or  some  more  efficient  machinery,  —  in  short, 
he  wants  to  incur  debt ;  and  he  may  sometimes  effect 
this  by  paying  for  his  new  purchase  and  letting  his  ac- 
count at  the  store  run  on  ;  but  all  comes  to  one  end  : 
more  debt  in  the  country,  and  more  debt  from  this 
country  to  Europe.  Whenever  we  make  a  new  railroad 
or  erect  a  factory  or  furnace,  we  look  around  to  see 
where  the  money  can  be  borrowed  on  mortgage  to  pay 
for  the  materials  at  least,  and  as  much  more  as  possible. 
And,  so  long  as  this  shall  be  the  case,  we  shall  make 
poor  headway  in  paying  off  debt,  public  or  private.  Our 
prevalent,  overruling  tendency  pulls  in  the  opposite  di- 
rection. 


OUR  NATIONAL  DEBT.  243 

The  practical  remedy  lies  not  in  vain  attempts  to  stop 
the  construction  of  railroads,  the  erection  of  buildings, 
the  opening  of  mines,  the  multiplication  of  factories,  the 
improvement  of  farms.  All  these  must  and  will  go  on, 
unless  we  madly  arrest  them  by  breaking  down  the  Pro- 
tection of  our  imperiled  Industry.  Progress  is  the  law 
of  our  National  life  ;  arrest  it,  and  the  weight  of  our 
public  burdens  will  crush  either  our  solvency  or  our 
National  integrity.  And,  to  my  mind,  while  the  disso- 
lution of  our  Union,  through  the  triumphant  establish- 
ment and  recognition  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  would 
have  been  a  National  misfortune,  the  Repudiation  of  our 
National  Debt  would  be  a  still  greater  and  more  de- 
plorable calamity.  Any  true  father  would  much  prefer 
that  his  son  should  become  a  needy  bankrupt  rather 
than  a  rich  villain  :  so  I  would  regard  the  failure  to  pay 
our  Public  Debt,  promptly  and  fully,  as  beyond  com- 
parison more  disastrous  than  a  division  of  our  country. 

We  must  crush  Repudiation  as  we  have  discomfited 
Secession.  We  must  stop  the  increase  of  our  European 
as  we  have  already  stopped  the  total  increase  of  our 
National  Debt ;  we  must  begin  to  reduce  and  pay  off  the 
former  as  we  have  already  begun  to  reduce  and  pay  off 
the  latter.  We  must  do  this,  not  by  ceasing  to  con- 
struct and  repair  and  improve,  but  by  more  fully  em- 
ploying our  Labor  in  downright  Production  and  by 
extending  and  rendering  more  efficient  our  National  In- 
dustry. We  must  grow  more  Grain,  Grass,  Vegetables, 
and  Fruits  :  we  must  extend  our  Manufacturing  and 
Mechanical  Industry  in  order  to  furnish  ample  Home 
Markets  for  the  thus  augmented  produce  of  our  farmers. 
Take  ten  thousand  people  who  live  from  hand  to  mouth 
by  occasional  fishing  or  hunting,  doing  odd  jobs  of  work 
for  others,  having  a  cow  per  family  running  in  the  road 
and  a  pig  picking  up  a  living  as  he  may,  with  a  patch 


244  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

of  poor  garden  by  every  other  shanty,  and  gather  these 
same  ten  thousand  into  a  manufacturing  village,  set 
them  steadily  at  work,  and  now  they  will  purchase  and 
use  twice  as  much  food,  clothing,  furniture,  &c.,  as  they 
did  or  could  before.  Thus,  every  ne.w  furnace  or  factory 
built  or  old  one  started  up,  insures  a  large  addition  not 
merely  to  the  National  production  and  wealth,  but  to 
its  consumption  as  well. 

And  this  good  work  is  now  rapidly  proceeding.  There 
is  hardly  an  old  furnace  in  the  Union  that  has  not  in- 
creased its  capacity  and  its  product  within  the  last  year  : 
while  hundreds  of  new  ones  have  been  constructed  and 
set  to  work,  or  are  now  in  process  of  construction,  in  the 
South,  in  the  West,  and  in  almost  every  quarter  of  the 
Union.  Missouri  now  supplies  Pig  Iron  to  Pittsburg, 
and  is  rapidly  increasing  her  production  ;  Tennessee,  old 
Virginia,  West  Virginia,  and  North  Carolina,  have  put 
several  new  furnaces  into  blast,  and  are  preparing  to  in- 
crease the  number;  Pennsylvanians  have  just  been  buy- 
ing Iron  mines  not  only  in  these  States,  but  even  so  far 
South  as  Alabama  ;  Oregon  has  been  supplying  the  San 
Francisco  market  with  Charcoal  Pig  of  a  good  quality ; 
while  Illinois  (a  recent  beginner)  is  making  largely  at 
Chicago,  and  Indiana  is  putting  up  great  furnaces  at  her 
capital  as  well  as  near  Greencastle,  and  boasts  the  pos- 
session of  thousands  of  square  miles  of  Coal  better 
adapted  to  Iron-making  than  any  other  in  the  known 
world.  She  confidently  counts  on  making  Iron  at  once 
cheaper  and  better  than  the  best  that  Pennsylvania  can 
exhibit ;  and,  while  her  sanguine  expectations  will  prob- 
ably be  sobered  by  experience,  her  effort  will  doubtless 
exert  a  wholesome  influence  on  the  Nation's  prosperity 
and  on  her  own  political  sanity.1  If  a  thousand  new 

i  The  last  effort  to  render  the  Tariff  more  efficiently  Protective  re- 
ceived no  single  vote  from  Indiana  in  either  House. 


OUR  NATIONAL  DEBT.  245 

furnaces  and  factories,  giving  employment,  directly  or  in- 
directly, to  Half  a  Million  persons,  were  to  be  put  in 
operation  within  the  next  three  years,  while  Three  or 
Four  Hundred  Millions  would  thereby  be  added  to  our 
annual  product  of  Metals  and  Fabrics,  I  am  confident 
that  our  Agricultural  Produce  would  be  increased  rather 
than  diminished  in  consequence,  —  that  more  hands 
would  be  incited  to  grow  Vegetables  and  Fruits  for  the 
new  manufacturers  than  would  be  withdrawn  from  grain- 
growing  and  cotton-raising ;  and  that  the  sum  total  of 
the  product  of  those  factories  and  furnaces  would  be  a 
clear  addition  to  the  wealth  of  our  country  and  to  the 
elements  of  comfort  enjoyed  by  the  human  race. 

NOTE.  —  The  fact  that  the  planting  of  Manufactures  in  a 
district  or  county  uniformly  and  speedily  induces  an  improved 
system  of  Agriculture  in  that  district,  may  be  verified  by  any 
observer  who  travels  through  our  Middle  or  Southern  States. 
Throughout  most  of  New  England,  a  pervading  sterility  or 
ruggedness  renders  thorough,  effective  cultivation  difficult,  if 
not  quite  impossible.  Half  a  dozen  ridges  of  partially  naked 
granite,  a  dozen  knolls  or  swells  of  mingled  stones,  pebbles, 
and  gravel,  separated  by  narrow  strips  or  belts  of  barely 
arable  soil  from  the  wider  bogs  or  marshes,  across  which  lie 
similar  strips  and  ridges,  almost  defy  the  power  of  man  to  re- 
duce these  to  spacious  and  facile  fields  whereon  grain  can  be 
profitably  grown.  The  face  of  the  country  is  too  seamed  and 
patchy  for  any  but  a  petty,  garden-like  cultivation.  New 
England  has  of  course  some  rich,  inviting  glades  and  inter- 
vales ;  but,  as  a  whole,  her  soil  does  not  favor  nor  invite  a 
generous,  scientific  cultivation ;  and,  in  spite  of  her  high  prices 
for  food,  most  of  her  grain  must  henceforth  be  grown  on  other 
fields  than  hers.  Farther  south  and  west,  however,  the 
planting  of  Manufactures  in  a  district  is  inevitably  and  speed- 
ily followed  by  a  manifest  and  palpable  increase  of  Agricul- 
tural production  and  thrift  on  every  side. 


246  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 


XVIII. 

WHAT    HAS    BEEN   ELUCIDATING   WHAT 
SHALL  BE. 

NOTHING  can  be  truer  than  that  the  Future  is  mir- 
rored in  the  Past,  so  that  only  a  keen,  clear,  searching 
vision,  undistorted  by  prejudice,  unclouded  by  prepos- 
session, is  needed  to  read  aright  its  lessons  and  deduce 
their  moral.  If  Protection  has  hitherto  impoverished 
and  weakened  our  country,  then  it  will  almost  certainly, 
if  persisted  in,  do  so  hereafter.  If  our  population,  pro- 
duction and  wealth,  are  now  less  than  they  would 
have  been  had  no  impost  ever  been  levied  upon  foreign 
products  at  our  frontiers  with  intent  to  encourage  the 
production  of  like  articles  on  our  own  soil,  or  with  the 
effect  of  rendering  such  encouragement,  then  it  were 
irrational  to  expect  such  results  from  Protective  legisla- 
tion in  the  future.  Tennyson  aptly  makes  the  sage  and 
thoughtful  Ulysses  say,  in  the  ripe  fulness  of  his  event- 
ful, observant  career  :  — 

"  I  am  a  part  of  all  that  I  have  met ; 
Yet  all  experience  is  an  arch  wherethrough 
Gleams  that  vintravelled  world,  whose  margin  fades 
Forever  and  forever  when  I  move." 

The  Evening  Post  has  fairly  earned  the  position  of 
leading  exponent  and  champion  of  Free  Trade  in  the 
New  World.  It  has  won  that  preeminence  by  courage, 
consistency,  and  signal  ability.  It  has  never  trimmed, 
nor  prevaricated,  nor  pretended  that  the  difference  be- 
tween Protection  and  Free  Trade  is  ideal  or  illusory,  nor 
has  it  permitted  considerations  of  party  expediency  or 
party  success  to  affect  its  attitude  or  muffle  its  voice. 


THE  INFANCY   OF  PROTECTION.  247 

The  Post  has  an  established  character  and  an  honorable 
history ;  and,  whatever  its  occasional  errors  of  fact  or 
inference,  I  will  not  doubt  that  its  course  on  this  sub- 
ject is  impelled  by  conviction  and  guided  by  principle. 

In  its  issue  of  August  27,  The  Post,  discussing  .the 
effect  of  our  present  Tariff  on  Wool  and  Woollens,  forci- 
bly says  :  — 

i/      •/ 

"  The  author  of  the  '  Positive  Philosophy '  was  the  first 
writer  on  modern  science  to  give  verification  its  true  place  in 
scientific  processes.  He  showed  clearly  that  the  test  of  every 
conclusion  in  science  is  prediction  ;  and  that  the  claim  of  any 
doctrine  to  a  truly  scientific  character  is  its  proportion  to  the 
accuracy  with  which  it  enables  those  who  understand  it  to 
foretell  the  results  under  known  conditions.  Economical 
science  accepts  the  test  as  fully  as  Chemistry,  and  its  pro- 
cesses, though  never  complicated,  are,  when  complete,  not  a 
whit  less  trustworthy." 

Concurring  fully  in  this  averment,  I  propose  to  test 
the  soundness  of  The  Post's  Political  Economy  by  copy- 
ing from  its  columns  the  predictions  from  time  to  time 
made  by  its  editors  of  the  deplorable  consequences  cer- 
tain to  result  from  our  country's  adhesion  to  the  Pro- 
tective policy,  and  contrast  those  doleful  prophecies  with 
the  cheering  results  actually  realized. 

Though  Protection  to  Manufactures  had  been  declared 
in  its  preamble  one  of  the  purposes  of  the  first  Tariff 
framed  and  passed  under  the  Federal  Constitution,  and 
though  Protection  had  been  incidentally  regarded  and 
affirmed  in  nearly  every  modification  of  that  Tariff,  and 
though  the  Tariff  of  1816  was  made  undeniably  and 
stringently  Protective  in  its  duties  on  Cotton  Fabrics 
and  on  some  manufactures  of  Iron,  it  was  not  till 
1820-22  that  a  revision  of  the  Tariff  in  the  interest  of 
Protection  alone  was  sought  for,  and  not  till  1824  that 
a  measure  of  unqualified  Protection  passed  both  Houses, 


248  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

and,  being  approved  by  the  President,  became  a  law  of 
the  land.  The  Evening  Post,  after  insisting  that  manu- 
facturers, alike  with  farmers,  traders,  and  all  other 
classes,  were  interested  in  the  defeat  of  this  measure, 
proceeded  to  say  : l  — 

"  Pass  the  Tariff,  as  reported  by  the  Committee,  and  you 
palsy  the  nation.  Pass  it,  and  where  will  you  any  longer 
find  occupants  for  your  costly  piles  of  stores  and  dwelling- 
houses  ?  Pass  it,  and  who  will  be  exempt  from  its  grinding 
operation  ?  The  poorer  classes  especially  must  feel  its  effect 
in  paying  an  additional  price  for  every  article  of  clothing  they 
and  their  families  wear,  and  every  mouthful  they  eat  or 
drink,  save  cold  water ;  and  to  that  will  they  erelong  be  re- 
duced. If  nothing  short  of  the  general  voice  of  the  people 
will  satisfy  Congress  that  they  can  not  and  will  not  submit  to 
this  report,  so  pregnant  with  incalculable  mischief,  so  mis- 
taken and  inconsiderate,  let  means  be  taken  without  delay  to 
procure  it,  and  it  will  be  given  in  a  tone  and  manner  that 
will  not  be  disregarded." 

The  bill  so  execrated  by  The  Post  was  passed,  in  defi- 
ance of  its  fulminations  ;  yet  the  Nation  was  not  pal- 
sied ;  our  City  grew  thenceforth  as  it  had  never  grown 
before,  finding  ample  "  occupants  for  its  costly  piles  of 
stores  and  dwelling-houses"  at  higher  rates  than  had 
previously  ruled.  The  "poorer  classes"  did  not  (un- 
happily) confine  themselves  to  cold  water  as  a  beverage  ; 
and,  so  far  was  "  the  general  voice  of  the  people  "  from 
condemning  the  measure,  that  the  Tariff  of  1824  stood 
unchanged  until  superseded  (in  1828)  by  one  decidedly 
higher  and  more  Protective.  The  "  tone  and  manner  " 
of  the  Free-Traders  were  as  arrogant  and  conceited  as 
usual ;  but  the  great  body  of  the  people  only  laughed  at 
their  lofty  airs,  and  persisted  in  calling  for  the  main- 
tenance and  increase  of  Protection. 

i  February  3, 1824. 


MR.  COOPER  AND   C.   C.   CAMBRELENG.  249 

Two  propositions  have  ever  proved  stumbling-blocks  to 
economists  of  The  Post's  school :  1.  That  the  producers 
of  Wares  or  Fabrics  may  be  benefited  by  Protection, 
though  its  effect  be  to  reduce  rather  than  enhance  the 
price  of  their  products ;  2.  That  increased  Protection 
may  secure  increased  revenue  from  Duties  on  Imports. 
Dr.  Cooper,  then  President  of  South  Carolina  College, 
was  then  a  leading  pamphleteer  against  Protection,  and 
The  Post 1  admiringly  quoted  him  with  commendations,2 
as  follows  :  — 

"  But  it  is  not  against  the  merchant  and  agriculturist  in  those 
specific  capacities  and  characters  that  this  monopoly  makes  war, 
but  it  is  against  our  national  resources,  against  our  revenue  also. 
Annihilate,  however  gradually,  your  custom-house  duties,  and 
you  must  recur  to  direct  taxation  or  to  excise.  I  have  no  time 
to  dwell  on  the  insuperable  objections  that  lie  against  both 
these  measures  in  their  details ;  but  I  would  ask  what  finance 
minister  among  us  will  be  driven  to  the  one  of  these  execrated 
resources  or  to  the  other  ?  Let  the  manufacture-monopoly 
speculators  succeed,  by  hardihood  of  assertion  and  unbounded 
promise,  which  they  can  give  no  pledge  to  perform,  and  I  ask 
where  will  you  find  a  competent  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ? 
I  say  a  competent  one  ;  for  I  am  persuaded  no  man  of  good 
sense  will  incur  the  difficulties  and  the  responsibilities  of  that 
situation  under  a  system  of  direct  taxation,  and  an  army  of 
excise  officers,  unless  from  an  extravagant  love  of  power  and 
appointment." 

To  the  same  effect,  The  Post,3  in  printing  the  speech 
of  Mr.  Churchill  C.  Cambreleng,  then  a  Representative 
of  our  City  in  the  House,  paraphrases  and  indorses  his 
views  as  follows  :  — 

"  Remember,  it  is  stated  by  our  able  and  faithful  represent- 
ative, whose  speech  is  this  evening  republished,  that  it  ap- 
pears from  Treasury  documents  that,  if  the  purposes  of  the 
Committee  be  accomplished  and  the  dreaded  measure  adopted, 

l  February  4, 1824.         2  February  3, 1824.        «  March  3, 1824. 
—        11  * 


250  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

a  very  considerable  portion  of  the  revenue  connected  with 
manufactures,  and  amounting  last  year  to  upward  of  eight  and  a 
half  millions  of  dollars,  will  thereby  be  extinguished.  But  the 
Treasury  must  nevertheless  be  supplied  to  the  same  amount 
from  some  other  source ;  and  what  remains  for  us  but  to  re- 
sort to  direct  taxation  ?  Are  you,  fellow-citizens,  ready  for 
that?  Are  you  prepared  for  an  impending  evil  like  that?  " 

The  Post  was  a  faithful  follower  of  its  leader  and 
teacher.  Mr.  Cambreleng,  in  the  speech  simultaneously 
published  by  it,  had  argued  that  the  object  of  the  bill 
was  Prohibition, — that  it  must  have  that  effect  or  none, 
save  a  needless  and  fruitless  increase  of  the  public  bur- 
dens, —  and  he  proceeds  :  — 

"According  to  a  statement  which  I  have  prepared  from 
Treasury  documents,  it  appears  that  the  manufactures  de- 
signed to  be  protected  by  prohibitory  duties  yielded,  in  the 
year  ending  September  30  last,  a  revenue  of  $  7,337,256 ; 
that  other  articles,  partially  manufactured,  or  forming  raw  ma- 
terials for  manufactures,  yielded  in  the  same  year  §  913,969, 
and  that  the  agricultural  articles  yielded  $  278,736;  making 
altogether  $  8,529,961  of  revenue. 

"  It  is  evident  that,  if  the  purposes  of  the  Committee  be 
accomplished,  a  very  considerable  portion  of  the  revenue  must 
be  extinguished.  In  any  event,  our  revenue  system  will  be 
seriously  injured  by  this  measure." 

At  a  City  Meeting  held  to  oppose  the  passage  of  the 
Tariff,  Mr.  Gulian  C.  Verplanck,1  set  'forth  the  objects 
proposed,  and  submitted  the  resolves,  which  were  unani- 
mously adopted,  with  the  heartfelt  sympathy  of  The 
Post.  Here  is  the  first  of  them  :  — 

"  Resolved,  That  it  is  evident  that  the  measure  will  be 
deeply  injurious  to  the  National  Revenue,  which,  under  the 
operation  of  the  existing  Tariff,  is  collected  through  the  Cus- 
toms (nearly  one-half  at  this  port  alone),  at  a  very  small  ex- 
pense, and  with  great  punctuality,  yielding  to  the  Govern- 

i  March  4, 1824. 


THE  REVENUE  SWELLED   BY   PROTECTION.       251 

ment  means  amply  adequate  to  the  National  Expenditure,  to 
maintain  and  gradually  increase  the  Navy,  sustain  a  sufficient 
Army,  and  not  only  to  discharge  as  it  becomes  due,  but  to 
anticipate,  the  reimbursement  of  a  large  amount  of  the  Public 
Debt." 

On  no  point  were  the  Free-Traders  of  that  day  more 
imanimous  or  more  vociferous  than  on  this,  —  that  Pro- 
tection to  Home  Industry  must  inevitably  destroy  or 
greatly  reduce  our  Revenue  from  Duties  on  Imports, 
and  compel  a  resort  to  Direct  Taxation  for  the  support 
of  the  Federal  Government.  This  was  a  catastrophe  in- 
cessantly flashed  before  the  eyes  of  the  People,  vexing 
the  souls  of  landholders  and  farmers  with  a  prospect  of 
double  taxes  on  their  freeholds,  rendering  it  impossi- 
ble to  sell  or  even  give  them  away.  And  yet  the  re- 
ceipts from  Imports  (as  I  have  already  shown)  were 
3,357,852  in  the  four  years  following  1824,  against 
1,688,254  for  the  four  years  preceding,  —  a  net  in- 
crease of  more  than  Twenty  Millions  of  Dollars  under 
the  Tariff  which,  according  to  The  Post  and  its  cowork- 
ers,  could  not  fail  greatly  to  diminish  the  Revenue  from 
Imports  and  compel  a  resort  to  Direct  Taxes  ! 

In  1828  the  Tariff  was  still  further  increased,  and 
rendered  still  more  Protective,  in  defiance  of  the  dia- 
tribes and  doleful  prophecies  of  The  Post  and  its  confed- 
erates ;  yet  the  Revenue  from  Imports  was  still  further 
swelled,  during  the  ensuing  four  years,  to  $  97,294,036, 
—  over  Thirty-two  Millions'  excess  over  the  four  years 
preceding  The  Post's  and  Messrs.  Cambreleng  and  Ver- 
planck's  positive  assertions  that  Protection  would  dry  up 
our  Revenue  from  Customs  and  compel  a  resort  to  Direct 
Taxation  ! 

The  passage  of  this  Tariff  was  a  direct  consequence 
of  the  satisfaction  with  which  the  great  mass  of  our 
people  regarded  the  operation  and  effects  of  the  Tariff 


252  POLITICAL   ECONOMY. 

of  1824.  They  had  tried  a  measure  of  moderate  but 
unequivocal  Protection,  and  they  felt  that  it  had  re- 
dounded to  their  signal  advantage  and  benefit.  Labor 
was  in  more  general  demand  and  commanded  better 
wages  than  prior  to  1824  ;  embryo  Patersons  and  Low- 
ells were  springing  into  existence  and  activity  in  differ- 
ent sections,  and  affording  to  the  farmers  convenient 
and  eager  markets  for  Fruits,  Vegetables,  Fuel,  &c.,  &c., 
which  would  not  bear  transportation  to  distant  seaports, 
much  less  to  Europe ;  prosperity  and  thrift  were  gen- 
erally replacing  the  National  collapse  and  bankruptcy 
which  everywhere  followed  the  enormous  importations 
of  1815  —  16;  in  short,  the  country  felt  that  Protection 
had  drawn  it  nearly  out  of  a  deep  slough,  and  was  in- 
clined to  double  the  team.  Hence  the  Tariff  of  1828, 
for  which  there  was  no  pretext  of  inadequate  Revenue 
or  unsatisfactory  Finances.  Its  object,  avowedly  and 
palpably,  was  Protection  alone. 

The  Post,  originally  Federal,  was  now  a  Democratic 
organ  :  that  is,  it  supported  General  Jackson  for  Presi- 
dent, and  the  party  in  this  State  whereof  Martin  Van 
Buren  was  the  chief.  He  had  recently  made  at  Albany 
a  speech  on  the  Tariff  question  which  did  not  clearly 
define  his  position ;  but,  when  the  question  came  to  an 
issue  in  the  Senate,  he  cast  his  vote  for  the  bill,  as  did 
his  devoted  adherents,  —  Michael  Hoffman,  Jonas  Earll, 
Silas  Wright,  Selah  R.  Hobbie,  John  Magee,  and  others, 
—  in  the  House,  where  the  State  of  New  York  gave  27 
votes  for  to  5  against  the  bill.  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  In- 
diana, and  Kentucky  —  each  about  to  vote  for  General 
Jackson  as  President  —  gave  their  every  vote  for  the 
bill ;  the  Carolinas,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Louisiana,  and 
Tennessee,  their  every  vote  in  the  House  against  it. 
Massachusetts,  Maine,  and  New  Hampshire  went  against 
the  bill ;  Vermont  and  Connecticut  for  it.  The  bill 


LAMENTATIONS   OVER  THE   TARIFF.  253 

passed  the  House  by  105  Yeas  to  94  Nays,  and  the  Sen- 
ate by  26  Yeas  to  21  Nays.  Most  of  the  supporters  of 
Mr.  Adams's  Administration  voted  for  the  bill,  with  a 
majority  of  the  Jackson  Democrats  from  the  Free  States  ; 
the  Slave  States  voted  pretty  solidly  against  it,  though 
among  the  votes  in  the  Senate  for  the  bill  were  those  of 
Thomas  H.  Benton,  of  Missouri,  Richard  M.  Johnson, 
of  Kentucky,  and  John  H.  Eaton,  of  Tennessee. 

When  the  news  that  this  Tariff  had  passed  reached 
Charleston,  S.  C.,  the  British  vessels  in  port  displayed 
their  flags  at  half-mast,  —  an  indecent  interference  with 
the  legislation  of  an  independent  country  which  was  re- 
buked even  by  The  Post.  At  Portland,  Maine  (as  The 
Post  quotes  from  The  Easteni  Argus),  "  the  bells  were 
tolled  ;  the  flags  of  the  shipping  were  put  half-mast 
high  ;  and  processions  were  formed  and  marched  through 
the  town  of  persons  whose  daily  bread  is  earned  by  the 
occupations  of  Commerce,  followed  by  emblems  of  sus- 
pended industry  and  decaying  trade,"  —  demonstrations 
which  The  Argus  seeks  to  use  to  the  prejudice  of  Mr. 
Adams's  reelection,  but  declares  "  not  confined  to  any 
political  party,  nor  did  they  have  their  origin  in  party 
considerations.  They  sprung  from  a  sense  of  the  deep 
and,  it  may  be  feared,  lasting  injury  inflicted  upon  this 
town,  and  this  part  of  the  country." 

The  Post  fought  this  bill,  both  before  and  after  its 
passage,  with  characteristic  vehemence.  It  quotes x  with 
approbation,  from  The  New  Haven  Herald,  a  prophetic 
declaration  that  — 

"  To  the  shipping  and  commercial  interests  of  New  Eng- 
land, —  and  especially  to  those  of  Maine,  Massachusetts,  and 
Connecticut,  —  it  is  nearly  an  act  of  annihilation,  which  par- 
alyzes industry,  destroys  revenue"  &c.,  &c. 

"  As  was  justly  remarked  by  a  gentleman  from  Maryland, 

l  May  21, 1828. 


254  POLITICAL   ECONOMY. 

'  The  recklessness  with  which  this  law  proposes  to  scuttle  ships 
is  only  surpassed  by  the  ferocity  with  which  it  resolves  to 
slaughter  sheep.'  Already  was  every  bolt,  rope,  and  nail, 
used  in  ship-building,  taxed  to  the  utmost  farthing  that  Com- 
merce could  bear ;  and  yet  they  have  gone  on  inventing  new 
sources  of  imposition." 

The  Post,  commenting  on  the  above,  says  :  — 

"  New  England  had  the  benefit  of  the  Tariff  of  1824 ;  and 
it  is  proper  that  she  should  bear  the  burdens  of  the  Tariff  of 
1828.  Our  City,  however,  bears  the  burdens  of  both,  without 

sharing  the   benefits  of  either The  following  words 

were  seen  yesterday  chalked  upon  the  walls  of  our  Custom 
House  in  large  letters,  —  the  work,  probably,  of  some  anti- 
Tariff  wag:  '  TJiis  House  to  let.  Inquire  at  Washington.'  " 

The  Post  asserts  *  that  the  bill,  as  reported,  "  with 
respect  to  many  articles,  is  equivalent  to  a  non-importa- 
tion act  " ;  and  again 2 :  — 

"  For  our  own  part,  we  look  upon  the  bill  as  a  great  piece 
of  absurdity;  but  it  at  least  has  the  merit  of  being  consistent 
with  itself,  and  of  carrying  fearlessly  into  practice  the  doc- 
trines in  favor  of  which  the  manufacturers  have  attempted  to 
produce  so  much  excitement.  If  we  must  be  loaded  with 
the  Tariff  system,  we  prefer  to  take  the  whole  at  once,  in- 
stead of  being  saddled  with  its  burdens  one  after  another.  If 
the  whole  extent  of  this  evil  is  felt  at  once,  it  will  be  shaken 
off  the  sooner  by  the  nation,  than  if  we  are  accustomed  to  it 
gradually." 

The  Post,3  announcing  the  passage  of  the  bill  to  a 
third  reading  in  the  Senate,  regards  its  impulse  as  politi- 
cal (in  view  of  the  Presidential  election  then  pending), 
and  adds  :  — 

"  It  is  a  melancholy  commentary  upon  the  public  virtue  of 
our  legislators  that,  under  these  circumstances,  they  should 
not  have  yielded  to  what  must  have  been  the  convictions  of 
their  own  consciences  and  understandings,  and  boldly  put  a 

*  February  4, 1828.  a  February  13.  *  March  15. 


THE  EVENING   POST   ON  THE  TARIFF   OF   1828.      255 

decided  negative  on  a  bill  which  must  so  fatally  cripple  our 
commerce,  and  bring  ruin  upon  so  many  individuals  now  pur- 
suing their  occupations  under  that  pledge,  which  results  from 
the  nature  of  a  free  government,  that  their  rights  shall  not  be 
sacrificed  for  the  emolument  of  others." 

The  bill  at  length  passed,1  and  The  Post,  in  a  leading 
article  thus  forecast  what  it  believed  must  be  the  conse- 
quences of  the  measure  :  — 

"  The  Tariff  bill,  as  amended  by  the  Senate  and  published 
in  The  Evening  Post,  on  Friday  last,  has  now  passed  the 
House  of  Representatives,  and  ere  this  has  probably  received 
the  signature  of  the  President,  and  become  a  law  of  the  land. 
It  remains  for  us  to  witness  its  practical  effects  upon  the  com- 
merce and  revenue  of  the  country,  —  to  see  how  much  Agri- 
culture will  be  promoted  by  it,  —  whether  the  farmer  will  be 
enabled  to  sell  his  crops  of  wheat  for  more  money,  and 
whether  he  will  not  be  obliged  to  pay  a  larger  advance  upon 
every  article  of  woollen  clothing  he  purchases,  either  to  the 
importer  or  the  manufacturer.  Already,  the  prices  of  woollen 
goods  have  advanced  in  the  market  by  an  amount  more  than 
equal  to  the  additional  duties,  which  on  some  descriptions  are 
upward  of  a  hundred  per  cent.  We  know  very  well  how 
difficult  it  is  to  predict  with  'certainty  what  will  be  the  opera- 
tion of  any  bill  for  the  protection,  as  it  is  called,  of  any  arti- 
cle produced  in  our  own  country.  We  hesitate  not  to  say, 
however,  that  the  present  Tariff  act,  deeply  as  it  must  injure 
the  fair  and  regular  commerce  of  our  country,  will  not  be  at- 
tended with  those  advantages  to  the  manufacturers  which  they 
expect.  Take  the  case  of  woollens,  —  suppose  the  operation 
of  the  new  duties  to  raise,  as  was  the  intention  of  the  makers 
of  the  act,  the  price  to  the  consumer.  The  effect  of  this  will 
be  to  increase  the  temptation  to  illegal  trade,  and  the  goods 
will  be  introduced  without  duties.  This  is  an  element  of  the 
calculation  which  the  friends  of  the  manufacturers  have 
scarcely  taken  into  account,  and  which  it  is  evident  will  make 
an  immense  difference  in  the  result.  The  improvements 
which  have  been  recently  introduced  into  the  manufacture  of 

l  March  19,  1828. 


256  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

woollens  in  G-reat  Britain  have  surprisingly  lessened  the  cost 
of  fabrication,  so  that  the  prices  of  these  goods  in  the  Eng- 
lish market  ten  years  ago  furnish  no  criterion  whatever  for 
judging  of  their  present  prices.  Here,  then,  is  an  article  so 
cheap  in  Great  Britain,  and  so  expensive  at  home,  as  amply 
to  compensate  all  the  risk  which  the  smuggler  may  incur  in 
bringing  it  into  this  country,  with  the  aid  of  the  advantages 
afforded  by  our  immense  sea-coast  and  long  inland  frontier. 
There  never  has  been  any  lack  of  enterprise  of  this  sort  either 
in  this  country  or  in  any  other,  where  the  inducements  held 
out  are  sufficient,  —  and  this  bill,  we  repeat,  offers  a  most 
splendid  temptation  to  the  smuggler.  Our  country  cannot 
enforce  the  prohibitory  system.  In  order  to  do  it,  it  would 
be  necessary  to  maintain  on  our  frontier  an  army  of  custom- 
house officers,  clerks,  spies,  and  runners,  large  enough,  were 
they  soldiers,  to  conquer  the  British  American  provinces. 
The  consequence  will  be,  that  the  law  will  be  evaded,  and  the 
country  will  be  filled  with  goods  smuggled  across  the  Northern 
and  Northeastern  boundary.  Whatever  may  be  thought  of 
the  morality  of  smuggling,  it  is  certain  that  conscientious 
scruples  on  this  point  are  never  prevalent  where  much  is  to 
be  gained  by  it.  There  are  persons  enough  engaged  in  com- 
merce who  can  make  the  distinction  between  what  is  malum 
prohibitum  and  what  is  malum  in  se,  with  as  much  acuteness 
and  nicety  as  the  most  experienced  barrister,  and  who  look 
upon  the  breach  of  a  revenue  law  as  a  very  different  thing 
from  a  breach  of  the  Ten  Commandments.  Nor  is  there  any 
lack  of  ingenuity  or  activity  to  carry  enterprises  of  this  kind 
into  effect.  We  shall  probably  have  factories  established 
along  our  inland  frontier  in  which  American  cloths  will  be 
manufactured  with  a  magical  facility  and  cheapness  and  ex- 
cellence of  finish,  and  from  whose  prolific  looms  they  will  be 
distributed  all  over  the  Union.  Quebec,  Montreal,  and  other 
ports  of  the  British  colonies,  will  become  the  centre  of  the 
woollen  trade  which  has  been  diverted  from  New  York  and 
the  other  ports  of  the  United  States ;  the  fair  trader  will  be 
ruined,  and  the  smuggler  encouraged  and  enriched. 

"  In  this  state  of  things,  what  will  become  of  the  manufac- 
turer ?    We  may  expect  similar  consequences  from  the  law 


WHOLESALE   SMUGGLING   ANTICIPATED.          257 

of  1828  to  that  which  followed  the  law  of  1824.  The  sup- 
posed advantages  offered  by  the  bill  will  induce  multitudes  to 
invest  their  capital  in  the  woollen  manufacture ;  the  competi- 
tion will  be  too  great  for  the  business ;  and  in  two  years  we 
shall  hear  the  same  cry  of  embarrassment,  distress,  and  ruin, 
that  we  began  to  hear  two  years  ago.  But  the  competition 
which  the  manufacturer  will  have  to  encounter  will  not  be 
confined  to  those  of  his  own  occupation.  There  is  another 
kind  of  competition  which  will  never  decline  of  itself,  and 
against  which  Government  cannot  protect  him,  —  the  compe- 
tition of  the  smuggler. 

"  To  show  what  a  munificent  temptation  the  new  act  holds 
out  to  the  practice  of  smuggling,  a  mercantile  friend  has  made 
a  computation,  by  which  it  appears  that,  upon  its  going 
into  effect,  the  saving  on  two  suits  of  broadcloth  made  at 
Montreal  would  be  sufficient  to  defray  the  expenses  of  a 
journey  from  New  York  to  that  city. 

"  In  the  mean  time,  as  the  bill  is  to  go  into  operation  on 
the  30th  of  June,  great  injustice  will  be  done  in  the  case  of 
vessels  with  cargoes  of  woollen  goods  purchased  before  the 
passage  of  the  act,  or  before  receiving  news  of  its  passage, 
and  which  may  arrive  after  the  30th  of  June.  The  act  con- 
tains no  clause  remitting  the  new  duties  on  such  cargoes,  or 
giving  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  any  discretion  to  remit 
them.  The  cargoes,  having  been  purchased  under  the  idea 
of  paying  a  different  set  of  duties  from  those  now  imposed, 
cannot  be  imported  here  without  a  ruinous  sacrifice  to  the 
owners.  They  must,  therefore,  be  sent  at  great  loss  to  the 
ports  of  some  other  country.  Several  cargoes,  we  under- 
stand, have  been  purchased  under  these  circumstances  on  ac- 
count of  New  York  owners,  and  which  it  is  thought  will  not 
arrive  until  after  the  law  takes  effect." 

"  Thus  do  the  legislators  of  the  nation  violate  those  rights 
of  property  which  the  letter  of  the  Constitution  professes 
sacredly  to  protect.  Men  are  driven  by  force  of  law  from 
their  regular  occupations,  undertaken  upon  the  faith  of  ex- 
isting laws,  and  a  shock  has  been  given  to  all  regular  business 
which  will  be  felt  throughout  the  nation.  It  is  difficult  to 
describe  the  indignation  which  this  rash,  impolitic,  and  per- 
nicious measure  has  excited  in  this  community.  While  we 


258  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

write  this,  we  are  informed  that  the  colors  of  the  shipping  in 
this  port  are  displayed  at  half-mast,  in  token  of  mourning  for 
this  act  of  national  folly. 

"It  is  but  a  few  years  since,  that  a  public  meeting  of  the 
inhabitants  of  New  York  was  called  to  afford  relief  to  the 
wretched  and  starving  manufacturers  of  Great  Britain.  The 
framers  of  our  laws  are  now  endeavoring  to  transplant  into 
the  United  States  the  very  system  from  which  arose  the  evils 
that  then  so  loudly  called  for  sympathy." 

Here  it  will  be  seen  that  The  Post,  while  affirming  the 
futility  of  prediction  in  general,  does  yet  confidently 
affirm  several  important  and  deplorable  consequences  as 
certain  to  result  from  the  enactment  of  the  Tariff  of 
1828,  in  addition  to  the  general  prostration  of  Com- 
merce and  diminution  of  Revenue  on  which  it  had 
already  so  often  insisted  ;  viz.  :  — 

1.  The  importation  especially  of  Woollens  would  pass 
almost  entirely  out  of  the  hands  of  duty-paying  mer- 
chants into  those  of  duty-evading  smugglers,  who  would 
establish  sham  factories  along  the  Canada  frontier,  and 
produce  goods  with  magical  facility. 

2.  Our   manufacturers,   thus   disappointed    in    their 
hopes  of  advantage  from  the  Tariff,  would,  within  two 
years,  be  clamorous  for  a  further  increase  of  duties. 

3.  A  sudden  and  vast  increase  of  our  manufacturing 
investments  and  enterprises  was  inevitable,  which  would 
soon  afflict  us  with  a  "  wretched  and  starving  "  multi- 
tude of  would-be  operatives,  living  from  hand  to  mouth, 
often  on  the  meagre  dole  of  public  charity. 

Now,  we  have  already  seen  that  our  Revenue  from 
Imports,  which  had  shown  an  increase  of  Twenty  Mil- 
lions in  the  four  years  following  the  adoption  of  the 
Tariff  of  1824,  as  compared  with  the  four  years  preced- 
ing, was  still  farther  increased  some  Eleven  Millions  in 
the  four  years  following  the  passage  of  the  Tariff  of 
1828,  in  which  the  aggregate  exceeded  that  of  any  pre- 


OUE   FOREIGN   COMMERCE. 


259 


ceding  four  years,  if  we  except  1816,  wherein  our  coun- 
try was  so  disastrously  flooded  with  foreign  products  to 
fill  the  vacuum  induced  by  our  War  with  Great  Britain, 
during  which  our  coast  was  in  good  part  blockaded  and 
our  foreign  trade  nearly  arrested.  I  have  also  shown 
that  our  ship-building,  instead  of  having  been  prostrated 
by  this  or  the  preceding  Tariff,  was  actually  increased 
under  their  sway.  I  propose  now  to  show  how  our 
legitimate  Foreign  Commerce  was  affected  by  these  enact- 
ments, by  citing  the  officially  reported  totals  of  Exports 
and  Imports  prior  to  and  under  those  Tariffs  respec- 
tively :  — 

Years. 

1817  . 

1818  .  . 

1819  . 

1820  .  . 

1821  . 

1822  .  . 

1823  . 

1824  .  . 

1825  . 

1826  .  . 

1827  . 

1828  .  . 

1829  . 

1830  .  . 

1831  . 

1832  .  . 

No  returns,  within  my  knowledge,  of  the  declared 
value  of  Woollen  Fabrics  imported  in  those  years  are  ex- 
tant ;  but,  as  our  Imports  from  Great  Britain  were  (and 
are)  mainly  of  Metals,  Wares,  and  Fabrics,  whereof  the 
home  production  is  protected  by  the  Tariffs  of  1 824  and 
1828,  I  compile1  the  following  aggregates  of  our  Im- 

l  From  Pitkins's  Statistical  View;  edition  of  1836;  p.  266-290. 


TJ.  S.  Tonnage. 

Total  Exports. 

Total  Imports. 

1,399,912 

$87,671,569 

$  99,250,000 

1,225,185 

93,281,133 

121,750,000 

1,260,751 

70,142,521 

87,125,000 

1,280,167 

69,691,669 

74,450,000 

1,298,958 

64,974,382 

62,585,724 

1,324,699 

72,160,281 

83,241,541 

1,336,566 

74,699,030 

77,579,267 

1,389,163 

75,986,657 

80,549,007 

1,423,112 

99,535,388 

96,340,075 

1,534,191 

77,595,322 

84,974,477 

1,620,608 

82,324,827 

79,484,068 

1,741,392 

72,264,686 

88,509,824 

1,260,798 

72,358,671 

74,492,527 

1,191,776 

73,849,508 

70,876,920 

1,267,847 

81,310,583 

103,191,124 

1,439,450 

87,176,943 

101,029,266 

260  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

ports  of  the  products  of  England  and  Scotland  for  these 
years,  so  far  as  I  can  find  them  :  — 

Years.  Declared  Value.  Years.  Declared  Value. 

1821  .  .  $24,400,954     1828.  .  .$32,100,169 

1822  .  .  .  33,900,263     1829  .  .  .  24,916,978 

1823  .  .  .  27,387,403     1830  .  .  .  24,137,881 

1824  .  .  .  27,656,442     1831  .  .  .  43,832,153 

1825  .  .  .  36,100,974    1832  .  .  .  36,429,374 

1826  .  .  .  25,458,975     1833  .  .  .  37,693,544 

1827  .  .  .  29,736,984 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  Wares  and  Fabrics  smuggled 
in  through  Canada  or  otherwise  are  not  included  in  this 
exhibit. 

Now,  it  is  well  known  that  I  do  not  measure  the 
growth  or  thrift  of  a  people  by  the  volume  of  its  ton- 
nage or  of  its  foreign  trade.  If  all  our  Grain  were 
regularly  shipped  to  England,  there  ground  and  baked 
into  bread,  whereof  two-thirds  were  returned  for  our  use, 
we  should  have  more  ships  and  more  foreign  commerce 
than  now,  involving  a  large  increase  of  our  Exports  and 
Imports,  but  a  diminution  of  our  independence,  comfort, 
prosperity,  and  wealth.  I  do  not  hold  that  Protection 
immediately  increased  either  our  Tonnage  or  our  Foreign 
Trade,  as  I  am  confident  it  did  increase  our  Industry, 
our  Revenue,  and  our  Wealth.  But  I  cite  the  official 
returns  above  to  contrast  them  with  the  doleful  prophe- 
cies of  The  Evening  Post.  Of  course,  whatever  foreign 
goods  were  smuggled  in  across  our  Canada  or  any  other 
frontier  do  not  figure  in  our  official  totals  of  annual  Im- 
ports, nor  did  the  bulk  of  them  give  employment  to 
American  vessels ;  while  it  is  probable  that  there  was 
some  harder  swearing  at  our  Custom-Houses  to  evade  the 
enhanced  duties  of  1824  and  1828  than  there  had  been 
under  the  lower  rates  prescribed  in  1816  ;  and  this  tells 
in  favor  of  The  Post  and  its  prophecies  ;  but  it  cannot 


MR.   CLAY   ON   THE  EFFECTS   OF   PROTECTION.       261 

save  them.  Our  foreign  fabrics  were  not  mainly  smug- 
gled in  across  our  frontier  under  the  Tariff  of  1828. 
Our  Northern  border  was  not  dotted  with  sham  factories, 
established  to  cloak  the  operations  of  smugglers  by  pre- 
tending to  fabricate  the  goods  those  model  Free-Traders 
juggled  across  the  boundary  ;  our  manufacturers  were 
not  desperate  and  clamorous  for  more  Protection  in  1830 ; 
and  our  country  was  not  cursed  with  a  wretched  and 
starving  popidace  by  reason  of  the  Tariff  of  1828.  In 
short,  there  is  not  a  single  point  on  which  the  results 
of  that  measure  were  not  in  glaring  contrast  with  The 
Post's  confident  and  dolorous  predictions. 

In  1832  the  Tariff  wa*s  slightly  modified  adversely  to 
Protection,  when  Mr.  Clay,  addressing  the  Senate,  truth- 
fully and  forcibly  said  :  — 

"  Eight  years  ago  it  was  my  painful  duty  to  present  to  the 
other  House  of  Congress  an  unexaggerated  picture  of  the 
general  distress  pervading  the  whole  land.  We  must  all  yet 
remember  some  of  its  frightful  features.  We  all  know  that 
the  people  were  then  oppressed  and  borne  down  by  an  enor- 
mous load  of  debt;  that  the  value  of  property  was  at  the 
lowest  point  of  depression  ;  that  ruinous  sales  and  sacrifices 
were  everywhere  made  of  real  estate ;  that  stop-laws,  and 
relief  laws,  and  paper  money,  were  adopted  to  save  the  peo- 
ple from  impending  destruction ;  that  a  deficit  in  the  public 
revenue  existed,  which  compelled  Government  to  seize  upon, 
and  divert  from  its  legitimate  object,  the  appropriations  to  the 
sinking  fund  to  redeem  the  national  debt ;  and  that  our  com- 
merce and  navigation  were  threatened  with  a  complete  pa- 
ralysis. In  short,  Sir,  if  I  were  to  select  any  term  of  seven 
years  since  the  adoption  of  the  present  Constitution  which  ex- 
hibited a  scene  of  the  most  wide-spread  dismay  and  desolation, 
it  would  be  exactly  that  term,  of  seven  years  which  immediately 
preceded  the  establishment  of  the  Tariff  of  1824. 

"  I  have  now  to  perform  the  more  pleasing  task  of  exhibit- 
ing an  imperfect  sketch  of  the  existing  state  of  the  unpar- 
alleled prosperity  of  the  country.  On  a  general  survey,  we 


262  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

behold  cultivation  extended,  the  arts  flourishing,  the  face  of 
the  country  improved,  our  people  fully  and  profitably  em- 
ployed, and  the  public  countenance  exhibiting  tranquillity, 
contentment,  and  happiness.  And,  if  we  descend  into  partic- 
ulars, we  have  the  agreeable  contemplation  of  a  people  out 
of  debt ;  land  rising  slowly  in  value,  but  in  a  secure  and  sal- 
utary degree  ;  a  ready  though  not  extravagant  market  for  all 
the  surplus  productions  of  our  industry ;  -innumerable  flocks 
and  herds  browsing  and  gambolling  on  ten  thousand  hills  and 
plains  covered  with  rich  and  verdant  grasses ;  our  cities  ex- 
panded, and  whole  villages  springing  up,  as  it  were,  by  en- 
chantment; our  tonnage,  foreign  and  coastwise,  swelling  and 
fully  occupied ;  the  rivers  of  our  interior  animated  by  the 
perpetual  thunder  and  lightning  of  countless  steamboats ;  the 
currency  sound  and  abundant ;  the  public  debt  of  two  wars 
nearly  redeemed ;  and,  to  crown  all,  the  public  treasury  over- 
flowing, embarrassing  Congress  not  to  find  subjects  of  taxa- 
tion, but  to  select  the  objects  which  shall  be  liberated  from 
the  impost.  If  the  term  of  seven  years  were  to  be  selected,  of 
the  greatest  prosperity  which  this  people  have  enjoyed  since  the 
establishment  of  their  present  Constitution,  it  would  be  exactly 
that  period  of  seven  years  which  immediately  followed,  the  pas- 
sage of  the  Tariff  of  1824. 

"  This  transformation  of  the  condition  of  the  country  from 
gloom  and  distress  to  brightness  and  prosperity  has  been 
mainly  the  work  of  American  legislation  fostering  American- 
industry,  instead  of  allowing  it  to  be  controlled  by  foreign  legis- 
lation, cherishing  foreign  industry.  The  foes  of  the  American 
System,  in  1824,  with  great  boldness  and  confidence,  pre- 
dicted, first,  the  ruin  of  the  public  revenue,  and  the  creation 
of  a  necessity  to  resort  to  direct  taxation ;  the  gentleman 
from  South  Carolina  [General  Hayne],  I  believe,  thought  that 
the  Tariff  of  1824  would  operate  a  reduction  of  the  revenue 
to  the  large  amount  of  eight  millions  of  dollars ;  secondly, 
the  destruction  of  our  navigation ;  thirdly,  the  desolation  of 
commercial  cities ;  and  fourthly,  the  augmentation  of  the  price 
of  objects  of  consumption,  and  a  further  decline  in  that  of  the 
articles  of  our  exports.  Every  prediction  which  they  made 
has  failed,  utterly  failed.  Instead  of.  the  ruin  of  the  public 


GROWTH  OF  NEW  YORK  UNDER  PROTECTION.  263 

revenue  with  which  they  then  sought  to  deter  us  from  the  adop- 
tion of  the  American  system,  we  are  now  threatened  with  its 
subversion  by  the  vast  amount  of  the  public  revenue  produced 
by  that  system.  As  to  the  desolation  of  our  cities,  let  us  take, 
as  an  example,  the  condition  of  the  largest  and  most  commer- 
cial of  all  of  them,  the  great  northern  capital.  I  have,  in  my 
hands,  the  assessed  value  of  real  estate  in  the  City  of  New 
York,  from  1817  to  1831.  This  value  is  canvassed,  contested, 
scrutinized,  and  adjudged,  by  the  proper  sworn  authorities. 
It  is,  therefore,  entitled  to  full  credence.  During  the  first 
term,  commencing  with  1817  and  ending  in  the  year  of  the 
passage  of  the  Tariff  of  1824,  the  amount  of  the  value  of  real 
estate  was,  the  first  year,  $57,790,435,  and  after  various 
fluctuations  in  the  intermediate  period,  it  settled  down  at 
$  52,019,730,  exhibiting  a  decrease  in  seven  years  of  $  5,779,705. 
During  the  first  year  of  1825,  after  the  passage  of  that  Tariff, 
it  rose,  and,  gradually  ascending  throughout  the  whole  of  the 
latter  period  of  seven  years,  it  finally,  in  1831,  reached  the 
astonishing  height  of  $  95,716,485  !  Now,  if  it  be  said  that 
this  rapid  growth  of  the  City  of  New  York  was  the  effect  of 
foreign  commerce,  then  it  was  not  correctly  predicted,  in 
1824,  that  the  Tariff  would  destroy  foreign  commerce  and 
desolate  our  commercial  cities.  If,  on  the  contrary,  it  be  the 
effect  of  internal  trade,  then  internal  trade  cannot  be  justly 
chargeable  with  the  evil  consequences  imputed  to  it.  The 
truth  is,  it  is  the  joint  effect  of  both  principles :  the  domestic 
industry  nourishing  the  foreign  trade,  and  the  foreign  commerce 
in  turn  nourishing  the  domestic  industry.  Nowhere  more 
than  in  New  York  is  the  combination  of  both  principles  so 
completely  developed." 

The  Post,  having  been  recently  transformed,  from  a 
life-long,  imbittered  adversary,  into  an  admiring  eulogist 
of  Mr.  Clay,  and  having  claimed  him  as  a  convert,  about 
1832,  to  its  Economic  views,  I  submit  the  above  testi- 
mony to  the  magical  beneficence  of  the  Tariffs  of  1824 
and  1828,  in  the  assurance  that  neither  its  pertinence 
nor  its  cogency  can  well  be  gainsaid. 


264:  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 


XIX. 
TAXATION,  DIRECT  AND  INDIRECT. 

DIRECT  Taxation  has  been  denned  as  that  which  must 
be  borne  by  him  who  immediately  pays  it ;  while  that 
which  he  may  charge  over  upon  others  is  distinguished 1 
as  indirect.  Thus,  Duties  on  Imports  are  regarded  as 
indirect,  because  most  articles  imported  are  imported  for 
sale,  and  but  a  small  proportion  — probably  not  more 

1  M.  Thiers,  in  his  terse,  vigorous  essay  on  "  The  Eights  of  Prop- 
erty; in  Refutation  of  Communism  and  Socialism,"  says:  — 

"  We  may  imagine  another  kind  of  tax,  which,  laying  hold  of  all 
articles  of  consumption  on  their  passage,  such  as  food,  clothing,  arti- 
cles of  luxury,  and  raw  material,  is  thus  confounded  with  and  added 
to  the  price  of  the  articles.  This  tax,  called  indirect,  to  distinguish  it 
from  the  other,  has  a  very  great  advantage  over  it,  —  it  is  that  of  taking 
its  proper  place  by  adding  itself  to  the  price  of  produce,  of  which  the 
tax  should  evidently  form  a  part ;  for,  as  the  expense  of  insurance 
against  shipwreck  should  be  included  in  the  price  of  sea-borne  mer- 
chandise, so  the  cost  of  its  social  protection  ought  to  become  an  inte- 
gral part  of  the  price  of  these  productions.  Hence  it  follows  that  the 
tax,  being  confounded  with  the  price  of  the  goods  in  the  market,  is 
paid  successively,  insensibly,  by  slow  degrees ;  so  that  the  tax-payer, 
•who  generally  has  little  foresight  is  not  obliged  to  think  of  the  tax- 
gatherer  as  he  thinks  of  his  landlord,  and  it  happens  that,  while  paying 
his  daily  expenses,  he  pays  at  the  same  time  his  share  of  the  public 
charges.  Moreover,  the  tax  is  voluntary  on  his  part ;  for  he  can  re- 
trench his  expenditure  if  he  thinks  he  cannot  meet  it,  and  then  he  pays 
only  what  taxes  he  pleases,  and  in  proportion  to  the  enjoyment  in 
which  he  indulges.  This  tax  is  the  most  equitable  also ;  for  the  rich 
man,  who  consumes  more  of  the  social  productions,  pays  a  greater 
share  of  their  cost  of  protection ;  and  he  who,  from  prudence,  econ- 
omy, or  poverty,  abstains  from  them,  is  relieved  from  paying  a  part  of 
the  public  expense,  in  proportion  to  his  abstinence.  This  indirect  tax 
is  therefore  insensible,  infinitely  divided,  prudent  for  the  payer  who 
is  not  so,  and  in  general  more  just." 


TAXATION,  DIRECT   AND  INDIRECT.  265 

than  one  per  cent.  —  are  bought  abroad  by  those  who 
are  to  use  or  consume  them  in  the  country  to  which 
they  are  sent.  On  the  other  hand,  not  only  a  poll-tax 
and  an  income-tax,  but  any  tax  on  lands  or  other  fixed 
property,  is  held  to  be  direct,  because  the  owner  of  lands 
or  houses  cannot  add  the  tax  to  the  price  of  the  property 
in  selling  it ;  indeed,  the  buyer,  in  estimating  the  value 
of  the  property,  is  quite  at  liberty  to  treat  the  tax  as  an 
encumbrance  or  quit-rent,  and  deduct  it  from  the  rental 
or  income  in  estimating  the  value  of  the  estate  and  fix- 
ing the  price  he  will  pay  for  it.  I  conform  to  the  popu- 
lar distinction  without  here  inquiring  into  its  justice. 

It  has  been  very  generally  assumed  that  Direct  Taxes 
are  preferable  to  Indirect,  in  that  they  are  more  sensibly 
felt  by  the  public,  and  thus  induce  a  more  vigilant  scru- 
tiny of  appropriations,  expenditures,  and  schemes  in- 
volving the  use  or  investment  of  public  money.  Super- 
ficially regarded,  the  truth  of  this  proposition  may  seem 
self-evident.  I,  however,  acciistomed  to  scrutinize  spe- 
cious generalizations  and  look  smooth  plausibilities  square 
in  the  face,  challenge  its  correctness,  and  submit  a  sum- 
mary of  facts  bearing  thereon,  which  are  quite  within 
the  scope  of  current  popular  observation. 

The  City  of  New  York  is  (I  think)  as  corruptly,  prodi- 
gally ruled  as  any  other  twenty  square  miles  of  the  earth's 
surface ;  or,  if  there  be  an  exception,  it  is  presented  by 
her  gigantic  suburb,  Brooklyn.  Yet  nearly  every  dollar 
of  the  Twenty-odd  Millions  annually  drawn  from  her 
treasury,  mainly  for  Municipal  uses,  is  derived  from  her 
citizens  by  what  is  distinguished  as  Direct  Taxation,  —  a 
mere  shred  of  the  vast  aggregate  being  obtained  from 
licenses,  market-stands,  &c.,  &c.  The  personal  property 
of  non-residents  may  possibly  supply  a  tenth  of  the 
total,  though  I  judge  that  a  twentieth  would  be  nearer 
the  truth ;  the  residue  is  taxed  upon  lands  and  struc- 
12 


266  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

tures  at  the  rate  of  $  50  to  $  4,000  per  lot  of  25  feet  by 
100,  with  the  buildings,  building,  or  part  of  a  building, 
standing  thereon.  And,  as  nearly  all  of  us  sleep  under 
some  sort  of  roof,  —  at  all  events,  sink  to  rest  on  some 
sort  of  lot,  —  this  mode  of  taxation  would  seem  not 
only  direct  but  all-embracing.  And,  as  all  adult  male 
citizens  are  legal  voters,  a  few  thousand  negroes  excepted, 
Direct  Taxation  ought  here  to  exhibit  its  natural  fruits. 
But,  when  we  look  a  little  closer  into  the  matter,  we 
find  that  our  City  has  not  less  than  One  Hundred  and 
Twenty-five  Thousand  Legal  Voters  (to  say  nothing  of 
the  Illegal),  of  whose  names  less  than  one-fifth  appear 
iipon  her  tax-lists.  If  the  vast  majority  are  made  to 
bear  the  burden  of  Municipal  prodigality,  it  reaches  them 
so  circuitously  and  unobservedly,  in  the  shape  of  in- 
creased rents  and  enhanced  charges  for  board  and  lodg- 
ing, that  they  fail  to  trace  the  effect  to  this  particular 
cause.  Nay,  such  of  them  as  are  sharp  enough  to  look 
into  the  subject  at  all  perceive  that,  while  Rent  and 
Board  are  apt  to  advance  far  often er  than  they  react, 
there  is  no  necessary,  or,  at  all  events,  no  immediate,  con- 
nection between  the  increase  of  our  Municipal  burdens 
and  the  inevitable  cost  of  living  here  :  that  taxes  may 
be  enhanced  this  year,  while  rents  rise  the  next,  and  vice 
versa ;  so  that  the  voter  does  not  generally  feel  that  adding 
$  50  per  family  to  the  cost  of  our  City's  government  will 
add  $  50,  or  even  $  5,  to  the  necessary  or  probable  cost 
of  sheltering  and  subsisting  his  family.  On  the  other 
hand,  there  are  thousands  who  make  themselves  busy 
and  useful  as  Ward  politicians  to  the  dominant  power 
here  who  shrewdly  calculate  that,  if  some  Millions  more 
are  spent  per  annum  in  oiling  and  running  the  Municipal 
machine,  there  will  be  chances  for  such  as  they  to  re- 
ceive somewhat  of  the  greasy  dripping.  Hence,  in  sev- 
eral of  our  Wards,  mainly  owned  by  non-residents  and 


TAXATION,   DIRECT   AND   INDIRECT.  267 

peopled  by  poor  and  unthrifty  tenants,  I  firmly  believe 
that  a  candidate  for  Alderman  known  to  belong  to  the 
Municipal  "  Ring,"  and  to  favor  "  big  things  "  in  the  way 
of  street-opening,  grading,  paving,  &c.,  &c.,  especially  if 
understood  further  to  be  liberal  to  "  the  boys,"  and  ready 
to  give  and  take,  would  run  better,  and  be  more  certain 
of  election,  than  one  of  identical  politics  but  of  old-fash- 
ioned notions  of  public  economy  and  official  responsi- 
bility. 

All  this,  you  say,  only  proves  that  what  is  called  Direct 
Taxation  is  misnamed.  Possibly ;  but  does  it  not  prove 
much  more  than  that  1  Does  it  not  prove  the  distinc- 
tion between  Direct  and  Indirect  Taxation  illusory  and 
non-practical  1  An  excise  or  octroi  duty  of  fifty  cents 
per  pound  on  Tobacco  would  come  straight  home  to  the 
business  and  bosoms  of  seven-eighths  of  our  voters,  — 
would  incite  them  to  look  sharply  about  them  to  see 
why  that  tax  was  imposed,  and  by  what  means  it  may  be 
abated;  whereas  an  additional  tax  of  $50  per  house  would 
be  regarded  by  most  of  them  as  an  affair  of  the  land- 
lord's, in  which  they  had  but  a  remote  if  not  purely  ideal 
or  sentimental  concern.  If,  then,  the  current  discrimi- 
nation of  Direct  from  Indirect  Taxes  be  correct,  I  main- 
tain that  those  termed  Indirect  are  most  likely  to  be 
felt,  scrutinized,  and  criticised,  by  the  great  body  of  our 
people. 

Of  late,  some  speculative  economists  have  favored  what 
is  called  Progressive  Taxation,  —  that  is,  an  exaction  of 
one  mill  per  $  100  from  all  whose  taxable  property  is  val- 
ued at  less  than  $  1,000  ;  two  mills  per  $  100  from  those 
who  have  over  $1,000,  but  less  than  $5,000:  three 
mills  from  those  who  have  over  $  5,000,  but  less  than 
$  10,000  ;  four  mills  per  $  100  from  those  who  have  over 
$  10,000,  but  less  than  $20,000  ;  and  so  on,  until  he 
who  has  $  1,000,000  shall  be  required  to  pay  two  or 


268  POLITICAL   ECONOMY. 

three  per  cent.,  and  he  who  has  $  10,000,000  or  over  a 
still  higher  rate.  Incidentally,  such  a  system  of  taxa- 
tion might  prove  beneficent,  by  inducing  great  capitalists 
to  divide  much  of  their  property  among  their  natural 
heirs  without  awaiting  the  intervention  of  death.  An- 
other inevitable  effect  —  that  of  inducing  a  majority  of 
the  legal  voters  to  authorize  large  expenditures  for  pub- 
lic enterprises  of  questionable  profit  —  I  could  not  re- 
gard with  complacency.  Already,  the  rule  l  that  Prop- 
erty must  pay  for  all  has  been  pushed  beyond  its  proper 
limitations.  In  our  late  Civil  War,  the  old-fashioned 
conception  that  a  citizen  owes  as  a  citizen  a  duty  to  his 
country,  was  very  generally  repudiated.  Individuals  — 
very  many  of  them  —  volunteered  as  a  dictate,  not  of 
choice,  but  of  duty,  and  many  a  mother  sent  her  only 

1  M.  Thiers  deals  with  the  proposition  that  all  taxes  should  be  levied 
upon  Property,  none  upon  Labor,  thus  conclusively:  — 

"Taxation  must,  therefore,  be  proportionate  to  each  one's  means; 
and  by  means  we  must  understand  not  only  what  each  man  earns,  but 
what  he  possesses.  Thus  the  individual,  protected  in  his  labor  by  him 
who  mounts  guard,  or  judges,  or  governs,  is  protected  not  only  in  his 
personal  labor,  but  in  the  accumulated  labor  of  his  parents,  converted 
into  land,  houses,  or  furniture.  All  that  represents,  say  an  income  of 
ten,  twenty,  or  a  hundred  francs  a  day.  This  is  preserved  for  him ; 
and  he  must  pay  some  remuneration  for  the  protection  of  wealth  pre- 
viously acquired  as  well  as  for  that  acquired  every  day.  Taxation, 
then,  must  be  according  to  the  income  from  his  wealth,  whether 
bequeathed  or  acquired.  This  is  what  is  meant  by  the  proportional- 
ity of  taxation. 

"  But,  in  like  manner,  as  you  owe  one  part  of  the  tax  for  the  prop- 
erty you  possess  and  the  social  protection  guaranteed  to  you,  so  you 
owe  another  for  your  labor  in  proportion  to  the  profits  of  that  labor. 
Any  plan  for  exempting  labor  would  be  as  unreasonable  as  exempting 
property.  All  that  is  placed  under  the  social  protection  owes  a  pro- 
portionate return.  If  you  save  me  daily  ten  francs  of  my  income,  or 
ten  francs  of  my  wages,  I  owe  you  a  remuneration  in  proportion  to 
those  ten  francs.  The  principle,  as  in  an  insurance  company,  is  to  pay 
the  tax  in  proportion  to  the  value  guaranteed,  whatever  may  be  the 
nature  of  that  value.  The  argument  which  some  might  endeavor  to 
oppose  to  this  truth  would  be,  that  property  is  wealth  and  labor  pov- 
erty; and  in  that  case  there  would  be  an  apparent  reason  founded  on 
the  interest  which  poverty  inspires,  and  the  little  favor  inspired  by 


TAXATION,   DIRECT   AND   INDIRECT.  269 

son  to  the  battle-field  when  she  would  gladly  have  ran- 
somed him  from  the  service  with  all  her  worldly  posses- 
sions. The  great  majority,  however,  of  those  perfectly 
willing  to  fight,  awaited  the  offer  of  liberal  bounties  be- 
fore volunteering  ;  virtually  assuming  that  the  duty  of 
upholding  the  Nation's  integrity  and  authority  devolved 
on  Property  alone. 

For  some  years,  a  lively  fusillade  of  discussion  has 
been  maintained  in  our  party  journals  with  regard  to  the 
comparative  facility  of  earning  a  livelihood  now  and  ten 
years  ago,  or  prior  to  the  signal  changes  in  prices  and 
current  values  effected  by  our  great  Civil  War.  Many 
facts  have  been  aptly  and  forcibly  adduced  on  either  side, 
as  many  more  may  and  doubtless  will  be  ;  but  the  great, 
controlling  consideration  that  our  public  burdens  have 

wealth.  But  the  allegation  is  utterly  false,  and  therefore  the  interest 
unreasonably  inspired  perishes  with  the  allegation. 

"If  there  is  a  rich  property,  there  is  also  a  poor  property;  and,  if 
there  is  a  poor  labor,  there  is  also  a  rich  labor.  For  instance :  here  is  a 
wretched  peasant  who,  by  toiling  all  his  life,  has  acquired  an  acre  of 
land,  which,  by  dint  of  labor,  returns  him  two  or  three  hundred  francs; 
and  on  it  he  lives  to  the  close  of  his  days.  This  is  poor  property,  and 
perhaps  the  most  general.  Here  is  an  old  servant  and  an  aged  clerk, 
modestly  ending  their  lives  with  an  income  formed  by  their  savings. 
That  is  also  poor  property,  as  general  as  the  former.  I  will  next  ad- 
duce the  case  of  a  merchant,  a  barrister,  a  physician,  or  a  banker, 
earning  their  twenty,  thirty,  or  a  hundred  thousand  francs  a  year,  and 
sometimes  a  million.  That  is  rich  labor,  and  labor  by  no  means  rare, 
except  the  last,  which  is  seldom  met  with.  And  you  would  tax  him 
whom  the  protection  of  society  secures  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  three 
or  four  hundred  francs  composing  the  maintenance  of  his  old  age,  that 
you  may  exempt  him  who  is  indebted  to  the  same  protection  for  the 
means  of  earning  ten,  twenty,  or  a  hundred  thousand  francs  a  year! 
In  taxing  property  and  labor,  we  look  not  more  to  wealth  than  to  pov- 
erty. We  look  to  both,  because  there  is  a  poor  property  as  well  as  a 
rich  labor.  The  observation  of  facts  thus  accords  with  justice  in  es- 
tablishing that  every  man  is  indebted  to  society,  whatever  it  may  be 
that  is  guaranteed,  —  be  it  wealth  acquired  formerly,  or  wealth  acquired 
recently;  be  it  old  laborer  new;  that  the  tax  should  fall  on  every  kind 
of  labor  without  exception  for  all  are  indebted  to  society  for  the  means 
of  production,  whatever  may  be  their  nature  and  origin."  —  The 
Rights  of  Property,  &c.,  p.  229. 


270  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

been  enormously  and  inevitably  augmented  by  the  cost  of 
that  War,  does  not  seem  to  have  received  due  emphasis 
from  either  side.  Over  "and  above  the  patriotic  contribu- 
tions and  services  freely  proffered  and  the  taxes  paid  dur- 
ing the  War,  the  Government  and  the  loyal  States,  with 
their  several  Counties,  Cities,  and  Townships,  incurred 
debts  in  raising,  equipping,  paying,  and  subsisting,  armed 
forces  to  the  extent  of  not  less  than  Four  Thousand  Mil- 
lions of  Dollars.  Of  these,  nearly  or  quite  One  Thousand 
Millions  have  already  been  paid  oft'  from  the  proceeds  of 
one  or  another  form  of  taxation,  or  at  the  rate  of  about 
Two  Hundred  Millions  per  annum,  while  the  interest  on 
the  entire  volume  of  indebtedness  has  averaged  an  equal 
amount.  He  who  supposes  that  this  vast  load  can  be 
borne  by  Forty  Millions  of  people  without  feeling  it,  or 
that  it  could  by  possibility  be  wholly  strapped  to  the 
shoulders  of  a  small  part  of  their  number,  evinces  but  a 
shallow  acquaintance  with  the  nature  and  laws  of  taxa- 
tion. Had  the  poorer  three-fifths  of  our  voters  been 
firmly  combined  in  a  determined  effort  to  fasten  the  en- 
tire load  on  the  more  wealthy  two-fifths,  I  believe  suc- 
cess in  their  effort  absolutely  unattainable,  unless  by 
direct  confiscation  and  spoliation,  if  even  thus.  A  Gov- 
ernment may  stipulate  that  its  bonds  or_  other  certificates 
of  indebtedness  shall  be  exempt  from  taxation,  and  keep 
faith  with  its  creditors  to  the  best  of  its  ability  ;  but 
taxation  in  some  form  —  Income,  Excise,  or  Tariff  —  will 
reach  and  toll  property,  however  carefully  screened.  To 
offer  a  non-taxable  bond  is  simply  to  collect  the  tax  in 
advance  ;  and  even  that  cannot  protect  from  its  re-impo- 
sition and  re-collection  in  various  unnoted  ways.  Nor  do 
I  suppose  that  Labor  can  escape  taxation,  however  ear- 
nest and  able  the  efforts  to  screen  it.  Hence,  without 
deciding  that  it  is  or  is  not  harder  in  the  average  to 
earn  a  livelihood  in  this  country  to-day  than  it  was  be- 


TAXATION,   DIRECT   AND  INDIRECT.  271 

fore  Secession,  I  am  confident  that  it  is  harder  than  it 
would  have  been  at  this  time  had  there  interposed  no 
Secession  and  no  destructive,  exhausting  Civil  War. 

Our  modern  Free-Traders  are  accustomed  to  reiterate 
protestations  of  their  acquiescence  in  the  rightfulness 
and  good  policy  of  raising  revenue  by  means  of  a  tariff 
of  duties  on  imports.  In  so  doing,  they  placate  hostility 
at  the  expense  of  consistency.  For,  if  it  be  true,  as 
they  assert,  that  a  duty  on  imported  wares  or  fabrics 
raises  arbitrarily,  by  the  amount  of  its  exaction,  the  cost 
to  consumers,  not  only  of  the  articles  imported  under 
such  tariff,  but  of  the  domestic  products  which  are  sold 
in  competition  therewith,  then  any  tariff  at  all  is  an  op- 
pressive mistake  and  injustice.  Suppose  pig  iron  to  be 
the  article  taxed,  and  its  natural,  legitimate  price  in  this 
port  to  be  $  25  (gold)  per  ton,  at  which  importers  and 
domestic  producers  are  alike  doing  fairly,  under  a  sys- 
tem of  absolute  free  trade.  But  a  tariff  is  imposed 
for  revenue  purely,  and  a  duty  of  $  5  per  ton  imposed 
thereby  on  imported  pig  iron.  The  price  rises  at  once, 
according  to  the  Free  Trade  theory,  to  $  30  or  over ;  so 
that  the  importer  transfers  the  whole  burden  to  the 
consumer.  But  the  home-made  iron,  which  is  twice  or 
thrice  the  amount  imported,  is  also  enhanced  in  price," 
equally  with  the  imported ;  and  the  $  5  per  ton  thus 
taken  from  the  consumer's  pocket  is  paid,  not  into  the 
Treasury,  but  into  the  pocket  of  the  producer ;  being  so 
much  unjustly  taken  from  another  and  given  him  by  the 
force  of  law.  Such  is  the  Free-Traders'  representation 
of  the  necessary  effect  of  their  kind  of  tariff.  It  is  not 
mine. 

The  superiority  I  claim  for  taxation  by  Tariff  or  Du- 
ties on  Imports  over  any  and  all  modes  of  taxing  com- 
mended as  Direct,  is  this  :  Taxation  by  Tariff'  involves 
and  insures  a  compensating  advantage  to  the  great  body 


272  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

of  our  tax-payers,  in  that  it  strongly  tends  to  encourage 
the  planting  of  new  industries,  the  naturalization  of  new 
departments  of  productive  labor,  on  our  soil,  and  the 
consequent  opening  to  hundreds  of  thousands  of  oppor- 
tunities for  earning  a  livelihood  superior  to,  and  more 
acceptable  than,  any  which  they  would  else  have  enjoyed. 
Our  present  taxes  on  foreign-made  Sugar  and  Molasses 
were  imposed  for  revenue  purely,  — for  no  Sugar-making 
Interest  was  potent  in  th«  National  councils  at  the  time, 
—  but  its  effect  has  none  the  less  been  to  rapidly  re- 
vive and  generously  recompense  the  Cane-Sugar  culture 
of  Louisiana,  beside  invigorating  the  Maple  Sugar  and 
Sorghum  Syrup  industry  of  the  North,  largely  increasing 
its  product,  and  giving  encouragement  to  the  spirited 
efforts  of  a  few  sanguine  farmers  to  transplant  to  our 
soil  a  scion  from  the  thrifty  Beet  Sugar  industry  of 
France  and  Germany.  So  our  present  high  duty  on  im- 
ported Teas,  rendered  necessary  by  the  heavy  burdens 
of  War,  and  imposed  with  an  eye  to  Revenue  purely, 
without  a  thought  of  Protection,  bids  fair  to  incite  and 
cherish  kindred  attempts  to  naturalize  the  Tea-culture 
on  our  Pacific  coast  and  in  the  valleys  of  East  Tennes- 
see, of  Cherokee  Georgia,  and  the  Carolinas.  It  is  too 
soon,  as  yet,  to  predict  with  confidence  that  these  at- 
tempts, or  any  of  them,  are  destined  to  succeed,  but  not 
too  soon  to  hope  that  such  may  be  the  case,  and  that 
the  lapse  of  a  few  years  may  witness  the  firm  establish- 
ment and  rapid  expansion  of  Tea-culture  in  different 
parts  of  our  country,  enlarging  the  demand  for,  and  in- 
creasing the  recompense  of,  Women's  and  Children's 
labor  among  us,  while  proffering  them  an  employment 
adapted  to  their  inferior  strength  and  superior  delicacy 
of  touch,  increasing  the  aggregate  productiveness  of  our 
National  Industry,  and  elevating  the  average  condition 
of  our  people. 


COOPERATION.  273 


XX. 

COOPERATION. 

THOUGH  I  have  already *  considered  and  commended 
Cooperation  in  Industry  as  the  natural  sequence  or  con- 
tinuation of  the  progress  already  made  in  superseding  or 
supplanting  Slavery  by  Wages,  the  change  meditated  is 
so  important,  and  in  my  view  so  inevitable,  while  it  lies 
directly  on  the  way  to  the  goal  I  contemplate,  that  I  am 
impelled  to  give  it  further  elucidation.  I  shall  not  at- 
tempt to  answer  all  conceivable  objections  nor  silence 
cavil,  but  simply  to  show  what  Cooperation  is  and  pur- 
poses. I  will  consider  it  first  with  reference  to  Com- 
merce or  Distribution. 

The  present  century  has  witnessed  vast  progress  in 
almost  every  department  of  material  production.  To- 
day, far  more  land  is  ploughed,  by  a  certain  expenditure 
or  outlay  of  human  effort,  and  ploughed  better,  than  by 
our  grandfathers ;  a  girl  of  fifteen,  guiding  a  span  of 
horses,  can  mow  grass  faster  and  better  than  five  men 
could  cut  it  by  hand  ;  our  steel  ploughs,  cultivators,  reap- 
ers, horse-rakes,  &c.,  &c.,  have  combined  to  render  farm 
labor  less  rugged  and  exacting,  while  far  more  efficient, 
more  productive,  than  formerly.  To  say  that  an  average 
day's  work  produces  twice  the  food  or  fibre  and  thrice 
the  cloth  or  ware  that  it  did  a  century  ago,  would  be  to 
keep  quite  within  the  truth. 

But,  while  Production  has  thus  been  increased  by  the 
invention  or  adoption  of  machinery  which  renders  Labor 
more  effective,  no  corresponding  improvement  has  been 

l  See  Essay  VI. 
12*  a 


274  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

wrought  in  the  usual  machinery  of  Distribution.  Traffic, 
through  all  its  multiform  ramifications,  is  continually 
sucking  the  life-blood  of  Industry.  The  machinery 
whereby  Vegetables  and  Fruits  (for  example)  are  col- 
lected from  the  farms  and  gardens  of  their  producers, 
and  supplied  to  the  consuming  artisans  and  laborers  in 
the  adjacent  cities  and  villages,  is  nearly  as  rude  and 
quite  as  expensive  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  Homer  or 
of  the  elder  Pharaohs.  The  fishermen  by  whose  efforts 
and  exposure  New  York  is  supplied  with  the  products 
of  the  ocean  receive  but  dimes  for  their  "  catch  "  where 
the  consumers  pay  dollars ;  the  berries  from  the  Jersey 
barrens,  for  which  the  pickers  receive  ten  cents  or  less 
per  quart,  are  retailed  to  our  citizens  for  thirty ;  the 
turnips,  for  which  the  farmer  of  Westchester  County 
with  difficulty  finds  a  purchaser  at  a  dollar  per  barrel, 
are  commonly  sold  by  our  hucksters  at  twenty -five  cents 
the  half-peck,  or  at  the  rate  of*  six  to  seven  dollars  per 
barrel ;  and  the  apples  which  bring  the  farmer  two  dol- 
lars per  barrel  cost  the  city  mechanic  forty  miles  away 
many  times  that  sum.  And  so  throughout  the  wide 
range  of  perishable  food. 

I  write  in  the  fulness  of  a  Peach-harvest  of  extraor- 
dinary abundance.  Peaches  were  never  before  at  once 
so  plentiful  and  so  good.  The  growers  throughout  our 
country  (and  they  abound  and  flourish  everywhere 
south  of  latitude  40°  on  our  Atlantic  and  49°  on  our 
Pacific  coast)  will  hardly  realize  an  average  of  twenty- 
five  cents  per  bushel ;  while  immense  quantities  must 
be  fed  to  animals  or  left  to  rot  under  the  trees  that  bore 
them.  This  City  is  a  great,  if  not  the  greatest,  empo- 
rium of  the  Peach-trade,  and  is  not  far  from  the  great 
Peach-orchards  of  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Maryland, 
wherewith  it  is  connected  by  many  lines  of  steamboats, 
railroads,  &c.  Yet,  while  the  growers  have  been  con- 


COOPERATION.  275 

strained  by  their  abundance  to  sell  Peaches  at  a  low 
figure,  and  often  at  prices  which  left  them  nothing  after 
defraying  the  cost  of  transportation  and  marketing,  the 
consumers  have  paid  for  them  an  average  of  not  less 
than  two  dollars  per  bushel.  So  imperfect  is  yet  the 
machinery  of  distribution  that,  though  the  swine  of  the 
producing  farmers  have  eaten  peaches  to  satiety,  our 
City's  Laboring  Poor  could  rarely  afford  to  let  their 
children  eat  once  their  fill  of  good,  sound  ones.  It 
would  seem  that  here  is  room  for  improvement,  and 
that  the  wisdom  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  should  be 
equal  to  effecting  it. 

Mr.  Parke  Godwin,  an  eminent  apostle  of  Free  Trade, 
in  his  ingenuous  youth  wrote1  thus  pertinently  and 
forcibly :  — 

"  Commerce  is  designed  to  bring  the  producer  and  consumer 
into  relation ;  that  is,  if  it  has  any  object.  But  in  itself  it 
produces  nothing  ;  it  adds  nothing  to  the  commodities  which 
it  circulates.  It  is  obviously,  then,  for  the  general  interest  to 
reduce  commercial  agents  to  the  smallest  number,  and  to 
carry  over  the  excess  to  some  productive  employment. 

"  In  our  societies,  precisely  the  contrary  takes  place ;  the 
agents  of  Commerce  are  multiplied  beyond  measure  ;  designed 
only  to  play  a  subordinate  part,  they  have  usurped  the  highest 
rank ;  they  absorb  the  largest  portion  of  the  common  divi- 
dend, out  of  all  manner  of  proportion  to  the  services  they 
render ;  they  hold  the  producer  in  a  servile  dependence ;  they 
reduce  to  its  lowest  terms  the  wages  of  workmen  ;  and  they 
extort  from  the  consumer  without  mercy. 

"  Blind  competition,  so  much  boasted  of  by  the  political 
economists,  has  largely  contributed  to  the  evil.  Traffickers, 
in  consequence  of  it,  give  themselves  up  to  a  regular  war 
against  each  other ;  and,  in  order  that  they  may  not  be 
beaten,  they  are  ready  to  resort  to  any  expedient.  They 
lie,  cheat,  and  falsify  products ;  they  adulterate  grains,  meats, 

1  A  Popular  View  of  the  Doctrines  of  Charles  Fourier.  Redfield  : 
New  York,  1844. 


276  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

wines,  and  sugars ;  they  would  poison  the  community,  if  they 
dared,  as  we  have  recently  seen  in  one  or  two  instances ;  and 
they  spoliate  the  public  in  a  thousand  modes,  by  exchange, 
brokerage,  usury,  bankruptcy ;  in  short,  they  deceive  in  every 
way,  and  defraud  at  all  seasons ;  yet  commerce,  in  our  cor- 
rupted societies,  is  the  most  certain  way  of  arriving  at  fortune, 
honor,  and  distinction. 

'•'  We  speak  here  only  of  intermediate  commerce,  by  which 
we  mean  the  commerce  which  consists  in  buying  from  one  in 
order  to  sell  to  another.  The  manufacturer  and  the  mechanic 
belong  to  the  class  of  productive  laborers,  although  their  func- 
tions are  often  complicated  with  the  character  and  vices  of 
commerce,  strictly  speaking. 

"  We  know  very  well  that  Humanity  must  employ  a  por- 
tion of  its  force  in  the  transportation  of  products,  in  order  to 
bring  them  within  reach  of  the  consumer.  But  it  is  evident 
that  it  ought  to  devote  to  this  task  only  the  force  that  is 
rigorously  necessary;  every  expenditure  of  time  or  money, 
beyond  this  minimum,  being  a  real  loss  for  society." 

The  true  distinction  is  here  taken  :  Commerce  is  es- 
sential, since  each  cannot  advantageously  produce  all 
that  is  required  to  satisfy  his  wants ;  but  it  is  not  neces- 
sary nor  desirable  that  Commerce  should  appropriate  the 
grist  and  leave  only  the  toll  to  Production.  We  must 
have  men  employed  in  exchanging  the  products  of  Agri- 
culture for  those  of  Manufactures  ;  but  a  regiment  would 
suffice  where  we  now  employ  an  army ;  and  we  must 
devise  the  means  of  dispensing  with  the  army,  —  or 
rather,  of  dismissing  it  from  Trade  to  Industry,  and 
making  the  regiment  serve  in  its  stead.  Such  is  the 
end  contemplated  by  Cooperation  in  Trade. 

An  average  rural  township,  of  thirty  to  forty  square 
miles  in  area,  inhabited  by  some  four  hundred  families 
of  two  to  ten  persons  each,  whereof  three-fourths  are 
engaged  in  Agriculture,  is  probably  as  free  from  para- 
sites, or  unproductive  consumers  of  wealth,  as  so  many 
people  well  can  be  under  the  system  which  Cooperation 


COOPERATION.  277 

is  designed  to  supplant.  It  has  fewer  idlers  or  paupers 
than  so  many  people  are  obliged  to  support  in  almost 
any  other  civilized  country  than  ours,  or  in  any  other 
than  an  agricultural  community.  Yet  this  township 
supports  from  four  to  ten  "  stores,"  partly  located  within 
and  partly  outside  of  .its  boundaries,  and  pays  a  profit 
of  ten  to  forty  per  cent,  on  whatever  it  does  not  produce, 
but  buys  from  abroad.  Searching  inquiry  will  establish 
that  a  full  eighth  of  the  gross  product  of  that  township 
is  paid  out  as  mercantile  profit  on  the  goods  it  imports 
for  its  people's  consumption. 

Why  need  it  pay  so  much  1  Why  should  it  support 
several  families  on  the  profits  of  its  trade,  when  one  man 
could  make  purchases  of  the  groceries,  wares,  and  fab- 
rics, it  needs,  and  distribute  them  to  better  advantage 
than  a  dozen  can  1  Of  course,  if  it  employs  the  dozen, 
it  must  pay  them  :  it  were  absurd  to  raise  a  clamor 
against  traders  as  cormorants.  They  are  no  more  at 
fault  than  was  the  "great  wheel"  or  "little  wheel" 
which  the  spinning-jenny  has  superseded.  But  may  not 
the  people  of  that  township  devise  some  means  of  em- 
ploying one  man  instead  of  seven  to  supply  them  with 
the  goods  they  need,  and  thus  effect  their  exchanges  at 
an  average  cost  of  five  per  cent,  instead  of  twenty  ?  In 
a  manufacturing  village  or  city  ward,  the  waste  is  greater, 
because  few  consume  their  own  products  to  any  extent, 
and  the  volume  of  exchanges  is  therefore  heavier,  while 
the  charge  for  house-rent,  clerk-hire,  &c.,  is  far  higher. 
It  is  quite  within  the  truth  to  estimate  that  one-fourth 
of  the  earnings  of  the  poor  in  cities  is  absorbed  by  the 
profits  of  retail  trade  ;  and  mainly  of  the  trade  in  what 
they  eat  and  drink.  Need  I  stop  to  demonstrate  that 
this  enormous  exaction  operates  as  a  diminution  of  their 
wages  or  earnings  to  that  extent,  so  that  twenty  dollars 
per  week  to  a  city  mechanic  is  no  more  than  fifteen  dol- 


278  POLITICAL   ECONOMY. 

lars  would  be  if  the  machinery  of  distribution  were  so 
perfected  that  he  could  obtain  the  necessaries  of  life  at 
their  lowest  cost  1 

Happily,  the  whole  matter  has  passed  beyond  the  do- 
main of  hypothesis  or  speculation.  We  are  saved  from 
contention  as  to  what  might  be  by  a  knowledge  of  what 
positively  is.  Galileo's  constrained  abjuration  of  the 
true  theory  of  planetary  motion  did  not  affect  the  mo- 
mentum of  the  smallest  asteroid  ;  and  a  thousand  spe- 
cious arguments,  designed  to  prove  Cooperation  illusory 
and  impracticable,  are  demolished  by  the  simple  fact 
that  Cooperation  is  no  untried  theory,  but  a  subsisting 
and  unquestionable  fact. 

Twenty-six  years  have  nearly  passed  since  a  dozen, 
poor,  humble,  ignorant  weavers  met  in  the  back  room  of 
a  mean  tavern  at  Rochdale,  —  a  manufacturing  village 
of  British  North  Lancashire,  —  to  devise  the  ways  and 
means  of  improving  their  condition.  The  political  agi- 
tations of  the  time  ^d  reached  them,  and  Chartism, 
Free  Trade,  &c.,  were  doubtless  discussed,  as  were 
Strikes  and  the  kindred  enginery  of  Trades  Unions. 
The  larger  number  of  the  little  company  could  not  feel 
that  any  decided,  practical  good  was  likely  to  be  real- 
ized from  any  or  all  of  these  devices.  At  length,  one 
of  them  spoke  to  this  effect  :  "  If  we  cannot  command 
higher  wages,  our  best  course  is  to  try  to  make  our  pres- 
ent earnings  go  further  than  they  now  do.  In  this  age, 
eveiy  great  enterprise  is  prosecuted  by  combinations  or 
companies.  Thus  railroads  are  constructed,  canals  dug, 
and  many  things  achieved  that  would  else  be  impossible. 
Let  us  imitate  the  projectors  of  these  works,  on  the 
small  scale  dictated  by  our  scanty  means,  by  combining 
to  buy  at  wholesale  the  necessaries  of  life."  After  dis- 
cussion, the  suggestion  was  approved,  and  an  attempt  to 
reduce  it  to  practice  resolved  on. 


COOPERATION.  279 

A  basis  of  organization  for  "  The  Rochdale  Society  of 
Equitable  Pioneers  "  was  forthwith  drawn  up,  and  signed 
by  each  of  those  present,  who  were  to  pay  twenty  pence 
per  week  into  the  common  fund  of  the  association  to 
form  a  working  capital.  Only  a  part  were  able  to  do 
this  on  the  instant ;  and  a  year  was  thenceforth  spent  in 
accumulating  a  cash  capital  of  £  28  (or  $  140)  where- 
with to  launch  the  new  store.  Meantime,  their  number 
had  increased  to  twenty-eight,  and  they  had  hired  and 
rudely  fitted  up  a  building  in  Toad  Lane  for  their  store ; 
which  was  duly  opened,  in  presence  of  the  assembled 
associates  and  their  families,  on  the  evening  of  December 
21,  1844.  Rent  and  fitting  up  had  absorbed  nearly  half 
their  capital;  so  that  barely  seventy-five  dollars  remained 
for  investment  in  those  prime  necessaries,  Flour,  Butter, 
Sugar.  As  they  could  not  afford  clerk-hire,  their  store  was 
opened  in  the  evenings  only ;  the  members  by  turns  wait- 
ing upon  purchasers.  Scoffers  and  sceptics  stood  around 
to  hoot  and  jeer  ;  but  the  "  Pionccia  "  minded  their  own 
business  and  let  the  heathen  rage.  Such  was  the  hum- 
ble beginning  of  an  association  of  workers  for  scanty 
wages,  which  has  ever  since  been  in  prosperous  activity, 
and  which  has  grown,  in  the  course  of  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  into  a  company  of  sixty-seven  thousand  mem- 
bers, wielding  a  capital  of  four  to  five  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  and  doing  business  annually  to  a  far  larger 
amount,  —  buying  grain  by  the  cargo,  to  be  ground  in 
their  mill  and  sold  to  members  and  customers  as  flour 
or  as  bread ;  while  cattle  are  likewise  bought  by  it  in 
scores,  slaughtered,  cut  up,  and  sold  out  as  required.  A 
clothing  store,  a  dry -goods  store,  three  shoe-stores,  and 
five  meat-shops,  besides  a  magnificent  central  warehouse, 
are  among  the  structures  owned  and  used  by  the  Pioneers, 
whose  library  of  five  thousand  well-chosen  volumes  and 
reading-room  supplied  with  the  best  newspapers  are  free 


280  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

to  the  members  and  their  families,  —  two  and  a  half  per 
cent,  of  the  profits  of  the  business  being  devoted  to 
educational  uses.  To  buy  only  the  most  substantial  and 
serviceable  fabrics  ;  to  offer  no  adulterated  or  inferior 
article ;  to  buy  and  sell  for  cash  only  ;  to  charge  moder- 
ate prices  ;  and  to  divide  all  profits  equitably  among  the 
members,  —  such  are  the  cardinal  principles  propounded 
and  lived  up  to  by  the  Equitable  Pioneers,  of  whose  do- 
ings an  eye-witness  writes  : x  — 

"  Let  us  glance  at  the  manner  of  doing  business  at  the  coop- 
erative store.  The  shop  is  open  all  day,  but  is  most  frequented 
in  the  evening,  being  generally  crowded  on  the  Saturday 
night.  As  everything  has  to  be  paid  for  in  ready  money,  all  pur- 
chasers must,  of  course,  bring  their  cash  with  them.  What- 
ever be  the  amount  a  customer  lays  out,  he  or  she  receives  a 
tin  ticket,  on  which  is  stamped  the  sum  paid,  —  such  tickets 
being  vouchers  for  the  receipt  of  the  money.  The  buyer 
preserves  these  tickets  until  the  expiration  of  the  current 
quarter,  when  he  brings  them  to  the  store,  and,  for  whatever 
amount  of  them  he  can  produce,  he  is  entitled  to  a  propor- 
tionate share  of  the  profits  of  the  concern  during  the  quar- 
ter. The  whole  of  his  purchases  in  the  time  may  amount, 
perhaps,  to  five  or  six  pounds ;  if  the  profits  average  ten  per 
cent.,  he  would  be  entitled  to  ten  or  twelve  shillings ;  and  he 
might  either  receive  the  money  in  cash,  or  have  the  same 
transferred  to  his  account  credit  in  his  pass-book,  in  which 
case  it  would  go  to  increase  the  deposit  on  which  he  receives 
interest.  The  shop  being  open  to  the  public,  and  the  tin 
tickets  being  issued  to  all  customers  alike,  non-members  are 
in  the  habit  of  disposing  of  them  to  members,  who  are 
credited  for  their  value  on  producing  them." 

The  signal  success  thus  achieved  at  Rochdale  »has 
prompted  many  imitations,  not  only  in  Great  Britain  but 
on  the  Continent ;  while  in  this  country  "  Union  Stores  " 
were  started  qiu'te  as  early  as  1844.  Some  of  these 

1  People's  Magazine,  February,  1867. 


COOPERATION.  281 

have  prospered,  and  greatly  benefited  their  founders  and 
the  community  ;  others  have  been  mismanaged,  through 
incompetency  or  rascality,  have  fallen  into  bankruptcy, 
and  vanished  from  oif  the  face  of  the  earth.  Coopera- 
tion is  no  proof  against  roguery,  as  many  a  bank  can 
bear  witness  ;  and  the  cooperative  store  which  seeks  or 
desires  credit  is  morally  certain  to  be  already  well  ad- 
vanced on  the  road  to  ruin.  For  of  the  essence  of  Co- 
operation is  Cash  Payment ;  and  a  concern  which  buys 
on  credit  will  naturally  sell  on  credit ;  thus  dooming 
itself  and  its  members  to  flounder  in  a  quag-mire  of  em- 
barrassment and  to  work  evermore  for  ''dead  horse." 
Such  a  concern  will  soon  be  deserted  by  its  indebted 
members,  who  will  set  off  for  the  ends  of  the  earth, 
leaving  their  more  thrifty  associates  to  struggle  vainly 
against  a  flood-tide  of  adversity  which  must  ultimately 
bear  them  down,  leaving  the  concern  to  be  wound  up  by 
the  sheriff  and  sold  out  by  his  auctioneer.  Debt,  for 
goods  had  and  disposed  of,  will,  nine  times  in  ten,  prove 
fatal  to  any  form  of  Cooperation. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  habits  of  thrift,  economy, 
foresight,  calculation,  which  the  conduct  of  a  Coopera- 
tive Store  involves  and  requires,  cannot  fail  to  prove  of 
signal  and  permanent  advantage  to  its  members.  They 
are  first  constrained  to  save,  in  order  to  start  their  store 
on  the  humblest  scale  ;  and  to  many  of  them  the  knowl- 
edge that  they  can  save  is  novel  and  beneficent.  If  the 
Rochdale  Pioneers  have  this  day  Half  a  Million  Dollars 
invested  in  their  business, — that  is,  Half  a  Million  Dol- 
lars' worth  of  ground,  buildings,  wheat,  flour,  coal,  cattle, 
meats,  dry  goods,  groceries,  <fec.,  which  they  jointly 
own,  —  it  is  quite  probable  that  they  individually  have 
more  property  outside  of  the  company  than  they  would 
this  day  have  had  in  the  absence  of  any  such  enterprise. 
I  believe  it  may  be  fairly  computed,  therefore,  that  Co- 


282  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

operation,  in  the  single  instance  of  the  Rochdale  Pio- 
neers, has  not  only  increased  by  at  least  Half  a  Million 
Dollars  the  wealth  of  mankind,  but  has  assigned  that 
wealth  to  a  class  at  once  needy  and  deserving.  And  the 
habit  of  saving,  the  appetite  for  thrift,  is  of  even  greater 
value  than  its  already  realized  results. 

What  has  been  done  may  be  done  again,  and  doubtless 
will  be.  There  are  hundreds  of  Cooperative  Stores  now 
in  operation  ;  some  will  fail,  as  some  have  failed  already  ; 
while  the  greater  number  will  attain  no  such  importance 
and  achieve  no  such  conspicuous  and  brilliant  success 
as  has  crowned  the  efforts  of  the  dozen  poor  weavers  in 
Toad  Lane,  Rochdale.  But  scores  have  already  achieved 
a  success  as  complete  as  that  of  the  Equitable  Pioneers, 
and  are  now  in  the  full  fruition  of  their  well-won  tri- 
umph. Failures  and  successes  are  alike  instructive,  as 
the  beacon  which  tells  of  quicksands  or  sunken  rocks  is 
as  essential  to  the  mariner  as  the  light-house  which 
guides  him  to  his  haven.  It  is  entirely  practicable  for 
our  industrious  poor  to  diminish  sensibly  their  weekly 
expenses  by  means  of  Cooperative  Stores  ;  if  they  can- 
not trust  each  other,  or  if  they  shrink  from  bestowing 
the  care  and  foresight  required,  it  is  not  because  they 
are  incompetent  or  consciously  'depraved,  but  because 
the  recompense  of  labor  is  more  liberal  here  than  in  the 
Old  World,  and  the  necessity  for  planning  and  scheming 
to  save  sixpences,  and  make  each  dollar  go  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, is  consequently  less  urgent  in  America  than  in 
Europe. 

As  one  main  object  —  indeed,  the  chief  end  of  a  true 
Political  Economy  —  is,  in  my  view,  the  extensive  con- 
version or  transmutation  of  superfluous  exchangers  of 
products  into  actual  producers  of  wealth,  so  that,  in 
place  of  sixty  producers  and  forty  exchangers  and  para- 
sites of  one  species  or  another,  there  shall  be  at  least 


COOPERATION.  283 

ninety  producers  in  every  hundred  persons  who  gain  or 
seek  a  livelihood  by  their  own  exertions,  successful  Coop- 
eration commends  itself  as  the  natural  complement  of  Pro- 
tection.    Each  in  a  distinct  sphere  coworks  with  the  other 
to  achieve  a  signal  and  general  gpod.     Protection  dis- 
penses with  long  and  perilous  voyages  and   the  costly 
movement  of  bulky  raw  materials   across   oceans  and 
continents  to  recompense  and  subsist  artisans  engaged 
in  the  production  of  Metals,  Wares,  and  Fabrics  for  the 
use  of  the  producers  of  those  raw  materials,  securing 
a  larger   recompense,  a  more  generous   subsistence,  to 
either  class,  by  relieving  them  of  the  useless  expense  of 
maintaining  the  army  of  speculators,  forwarders,  boat- 
men, shippers,  railway  operators,  &c.,  &c.,  formerly  in- 
terposed between  them,  and  bringing  them  into  direct 
and  economic  relationship  as  members  of  the  same  com- 
munity ;  Cooperation  renders  a  like  good  service  in  dis- 
pensing with  nine-tenths  of  the  present  locust  horde  of 
hucksters,  retailers,  and  middlemen,  and  bringing  the 
farmers  and  artisans  of  the  same  country,  State,  county, 
vicinage,  into  a  relation  equally  direct  and  beneficent. 
Protection  tends  to  plant  the  artisan  by  the  side  of  the 
farmer,  and  thus  enable  them  to  exchange  their  respec- 
tive products  at  a  tithe  of  the  cost  involved  in  their  in- 
terchange between  the  inhabitants  of  widely  separated 
communities;   while  Cooperation  performs  a  like  good 
office  for  the  producers  of  the  same  country  or  neighbor- 
hood, enabling  them  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  each  other's 
labor  without  paying  exorbitantly  for  their  transfer  from 
one  to  the  other.     The  end  contemplated  in  either  case 
is  a  vast  enhancement  of  productive  power,  through  an 
increase  of  the  number  or  proportion  of  producers,  the 
elimination  of  needless  intermediates,  and  a  consequent 
enlargement  of  the  substantial   recompense  of  all  de- 
scriptions of  creative  industry. 


284  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

Of  the  various  attempts  to  organize  Labor  on  a  basis 
of  Cooperation  I  shall  speak  more  briefly.  Many  have 
failed,  as  was  to  be  expected ;  the  failures  have  been 
more  general,  or  at  least  more  conspicuous,  among  those 
which,  soon  after  the  revolution  of  1848,  were  subsidized 
by  the  government  of  republican  France,  than  else- 
where. A  sum  of  $  600,000  was  appropriated  and  dis- 
bursed in  aid  of  experiments  in  Industrial  Association, 
most  of  which  soon  collapsed  ;  while  several  then  started, 
by  workmen  who  declined  the  proffered  subvention,  still 
exist  and  flourish.  Most  of  these  hire  and  pay  journey- 
men, who  receive  wages,  but  no  profits ;  these  are  di- 
vided among  the  associates,  who  have  very  generally  dis- 
carded the  principle  of  uniformity  in  recompense,  find- 
ing it  unfavorable  to  efficiency  or  excellence,  and  now 
pay  each  associate  the  value  of  his  product,  —  in  other 
words,  prefer  piece-work  to  day-work.  The  association 
of  Piano-makers,  which  commenced  operations  twenty 
years  ago  on  a  capital  of  less  than  fifty  dollars,  has  now 
a  capital  of  $  35,000,  and  does  a  business  of  nearly 
$  40,000  annually.  The  association  of  Masons  has  but 
eighty-odd  members,  of  whom  two-thirds  work  daily 
with  trowel  and  hod ;  the  residue  are  foremen,  managers, 
or  simply  stockholders;  while  from  two  hundred  to 
three  hundred  more  are  usually  employed  by  it  as 
journeymen.  Lyons  has  several  associations  of  work- 
men, one  of  which  has  eighteen  hundred  members ;  St. 
Etienne  has  one  of  twelve  hundred  members,  wield- 
ing a  capital  of  $  240,000.  One  formed  in  Vienna 
eighteen  years  ago,  for  the  manufacture  of  cloth,  but 
which  now  has  its  flour-mill,  bakery,  grocery,  coal-yard, 
and  farm,  does  a  business  of  $  200,000  per  annum. 
Apart  from  these,  several  great  manufacturing  establish- 
ments, beside  paying  their  woi'kmen  the  current  wages, 
accord  them  a  moderate  share  — usually,  ten  per  cent. 


COOPERATION.  285 

—  of  the  profits  realized  on  each  year's  business,  and 
find  their  reward  in  the  community  of  interest  thus 
created  :  most  workmen  seeking,  by  efficiency  and  thrift, 
to  increase  the  profits  wherein  each  is  to  share.  A  pro 
rata  scale  of  distribution  is  usually  adopted,  —  each 
workman  receiving  a  dividend  proportioned  to  his  earn- 
ings during  the  year ;  so  that,  if  $  1,000,000  has  been 
paid  out  as  wages  during  the  year,  and  $  200,000  real- 
ized as  profits,  there  are  $  20,000'of  these  to  be  appor- 
tioned among  the  workers,  each  of  whom  receives  there- 
from two  per  cent,  of  his  annual  wages  :  he  who  has 
earned  $  500,  $  10  ;  he  who  has  earned  $  300,  $  6,  and 
so  on.  The  dividend  is  not  apt  to  be  large  ;  but,  since 
it  is  so  much  over  and  above  the  usual  wages,  it  proves 
quite  acceptable. 

In  this  country,  there  have  been  several  attempts  to 
realize  complete  Industrial  Association,  most  of  which 
have  failed  and  disappeared ;  those  of  the  religious  com- 
munists known  as  Shakers,  Rappites,  Zoarites,  Perfec- 
tionists, &c.,  forming  the  only  conspicuous  exceptions. 
There  have  been  failures  among  these  ;  but  quite  a 
number  have  succeeded ;  and,  as  several  of  these  socie- 
ties are  more  than  sixty  years  old,  and  are  now  rich  in 
worldly  goods,  they  can  no  longer  be  regarded  as  on  pro- 
bation. Of  associations  for  the  prosecution  of  a  special 
trade  or  business,  those  of  the  Iron-Moulders  of  Troy 
have  now  been  some  three  years  in  operation,  and 
seemed,  when  I  was  last  definitely  advised,  to  be  enjoy- 
ing a  substantial  prosperity.  They  had  accumulated  cap- 
ital ;  they  were  earning  more  than  journeymen's  wages  ; 
and  they  had  abundant  work,  and  were  said  to  do  it  de- 
cidedly well.  Should  this  success  endure,  it  will,  of  course, 
incite  others  to  study  their  organization  and  history, 
with  intent  to  copy  the  former  and  emulate  the  latter. 

Yet  ours  is  one  of  the  last  countries  in  which  Coopera- 


286  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

tion  is  likely  to  become  widely  popular.  As  a  people,  we 
may  be  viewed  as  on  the  march  from  East  to  West ;  the 
active,  aspiring  mechanic,  who  was  born  in  Maine  or 
New  Hampshire,  migrates  to  New  York  or  some  other 
Middle  State  soon  after  attaining  his  majority  ;  reaches 
Illinois  or  Missouri  two  or  three  years  later ;  and  will 
often  be  found  traversing  Montana  or  California  before 
he  is  thirty  ;  and,  having  no  fixed  abiding-place,  he  is 
unlikely  to  trouble  himself  with  aught  to  which  stability 
is  so  essential  as  it  is  to  Cooperation.  His  wages,  when 
he  has  work,  are  usually  so  ample  that  he  would  scorn 
to  knot  his  brain  with  problems  that  seem  to  him  so 
petty  and  paltry  as  those  which  taxed  the  assembled 
wisdom  of  the  humble  weavers  of  Toad  Lane.  What- 
ever the  thoughtful  few  may  do,  it  is  not  probable  that  the 
great  majority  of  our  workers  for  wages  will  soon  give  time 
or  effort  to  the  realization  of  Cooperative  Industry,  unless 
its  triumph  in  other  lands  shall  be  so  emphatic  as  to 
compel  their  attention  and  excite  their  emulation.  And 
yet  my  own  conviction  is  strong  that  Cooperation  is  the 
true  goal  of  our  industrial  progress,  the  application  of 
the  republican  principle  to  Labor,  and  the  appointed 
means  of  rescuing  the  Laboring  Class  from  dependence, 
dissipation,  prodigality,  and  need,  and  establishing  it  on 
a  basis  of  forecast,  calculation,  sobriety,  and  thrift,  con- 
ducive at  once  to  its  material  comfort,  its  intellectual 
culture,  and  its  moral  elevation.  It  may  be  that  as- 
sociations of  working-men  to  secure  the  full  employ- 
ment and  just  recompense  of  their  labor  may  not  be- 
come so  common  in  the  next  age  as  associations  of  cap- 
italists and  business  men  for  like  ends  already  are ;  but, 
if  so,  I  must  regret  the  fatuity  which  will  not  realize  that 
"  In  union  is  strength,"  or  the  faithless  apathy  which 
rejects  the  proffered  good  because  mutual  and  devoted, 
persistent  efforts  are  required  to  achieve  it. 


WOOL  AND  WOOLLENS.  287 

XXI. 
WOOL  AND  WOOLLENS. 

ACCORDING  to  the  official  returns,  the  whole  number 
of  Sheep  in  the  United  States  and  the  annual  product 
of  Wool,  in  1850  and  1860  respectively,  were  as  fol- 
lows :  *  — 

185O.  1860. 

No.  of  Sheep,         .         .         21,723,220         ,  24,823,566 

Pounds  of  Wool,       .         .     52,516,959  62,017,153 

Inc.  in  10  years,  Sheep,  3,099,346.         Wool,  10,500,194  Ibs. 

These  returns  indicate  a  very  moderate  annual  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  Sheep,  but  a  more  considerable 
improvement  in  the  annual  product  of  Wool  per  head. 

That  Sheep  Husbandry  in  the  United  States  ought  to 
be  extended  is  manifest.  Our  people  eat  too  much 
Pork  and  too  little  Mutton.  Fresh  Pork  can  be  had 
only  in  the  two  last  months  of  each  year,  —  at  least, 
very  little  is  seen  among  our  rural  population  at  any 
other  season ;  while  Fresh  Mutton  may  be  and  is  en- 
joyed by  our  farmers  in  the  Summer  and  early  Autumn, 
when  fresh  meat  is  otherwise  unattainable  by  most  of 
them  and  Salt  Pork  too  uniformly  a  staple  of  their  diet. 
Were  our  Sheep  doubled  in  number  and  improved  in 
quality,  it  would  be  better  for  us  all.  And,  even  then, 
our  Sheep  Husbandry  would  be  behind  that  of  Western 
Europe.  A  daring  statistician  2  says  that  "  recent  Ger- 
man estimates  "  make  the  annual  product  of  Wool  aa 
follows  :  — 

1  Quoted,  but  not  named,  in  the  official  "  Report  upon  Wool  and 
Manufactures  of  Wool,"  by  E.  R.  Mudge,  U.  S.  Commissioner  at  the 
Paris  Universal  Exposition,  1867. 

2  Preliminary  Report  on  the  Eighth  Census.   1860.    By  Joseph  C. 
G.  Kennedy,  Superintendent.    Washington,  1862. 


288  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

Countries.  Pounds.  Countries.  Pounds. 

Great  Britain,       266,000,000     Germany,  200,000,000 

France,  123,000,000     Eussia   in  Eu-  K9enftftftnn 

Spain, Portugal,  >  rope,  J        >       ' 

and  Italy,  f  A«»,WU,UU  united  States,  95,000,000 
Australia, South  )  Northern  Africa,  49,000,000 

America,  and  f- 157,000,000     British    North   ) 

South  Africa,  )  America,          \    ^,000,00 

Asia,  470,000,000 

If  this  estimate  be  correct,  the  annual  product  of 
Wool  in  the  whole  world  is  1,610,000,000  pounds, 
whereof  little  Europe  produces  827,000,000,  or  more 
than  half. 

The  rapid  and  vast  diffusion  of  Wool-growing  in  Aus- 
tralia and  in  South  America,  where  Sheep  are  neither 
fed  nor  sheltered,  has  caused  a  general  depression  of 
prices  ;  and  this  has  tended  to  discourage  Wool-growing 
among  us.  But  it  should  be  considered  that,  while  the 
value  of  the  fleece  has  declined,  that  of  the  meat  has 
largely  increased  ;  and  the  amount  or  weight  of  Meat 
produced  far  transcends  that  of  Wool.  Despite  the  low 
price  of  Wool,  whoever  produces,  under  favoring  circum- 
stances, choice  Mutton,  in  the  vicinity  of  this  or  any 
of  our  cities,  can  hardly  fail  to  profit  by  doing  so.  I  am 
assured  by  successful  New  York  and  New  England 
farmers  that  they  can  make  money  faster  by  growing 
early  Lambs  for  the  markets  of  our  cities  than  by  pro- 
ducing anything  else. 

During  the  eleven  years  from  1850  to  1860  inclusive 
we  imported  unmanufactured  Wool  as  follows  :  — 

Year.  Value.  Year.  Value. 

1850  .  .   $  1,681,691     1856  .  .   $  1,665,064 

1851  .  .  .   3,833,157     1857  .  .  .   2,125,744 

1852  .  .  .  1,930,711     1858  .  .  .  4,022,635 

1853  .  .  .   2,669,718     1859  .  ,  .   4,444,954 

1854  .  .  .  2,822,185     1860  .  .  .  4,842,152 

1855  .  .  .   2,072,139 

Total, $  32,110,150 


WOOL   AND  WOOLLENS.  289 

During  these  eleven  years  we  also  imported  Woollen 
Fabrics  (including  some  classed  as  such  which  were  part- 
ly composed  of  other  materials  than  Wool)  as  follows  : — 

Year.  Value.  Year.  Value. 

1850  .     .    $  17,151,509  1856    .     .    $  31,961,793 

1851  .     .     .     19,507,309  1857  .     .     .     31,286,118 

1852  .     .     .  17,573,964  1858    .     .     .  26,486,191 

1853  .     .     .     27,621,911  1859  .     .     .     33,521,956 

1854  .     .     .  32,382,594  1860    .     .     .  37,937,190 

1855  .     .     .     24,404,149 

Total  for  eleven  years,        .        .      $  299,834,684 

During  these  eleven  years  we  exported  home-grown 
WTool  to  the  value  of  $  1,562,502  ;  but  there  are  no  re- 
turns of  American  Woollens  exported.  We,  therefore, 
appear  to  have  imported  Wool  and  Woollens  in  those 
eleven  years  to  the  value  of  $  330,382,332  above  that 
of  our  exports.  And  no  one  who  knows  anything  of 
custom-house  valuations  and  evasions  can  doubt  that  the 
actual  disparity  in  value  between  our  exports  and  our 
imports  of  Wool  and  Woollens  considerably  exceeded 
that  vast  sum. 

Was  it  well  for  us  thus  to  buy  abroad  so  large  a  share 
of  the  material  wherewith  our  people  are  mainly  fenced 
against  the  rigors  of  Winter  and  the  sudden  changes  and 
caprices  even  of  our  milder  seasons  1  I  think  not. 


The  production  of  Shoddy  and  Mungo  —  that  is,  the 
breaking  up  of  the  remnants  of  old  woollen  garments, 
carpets,  &c.,  into  a  substance  which  can  be  spun  and 
woven  by  machinery  —  is  a  very  modern  art,  which  origi- 
nated in  Great  Britain,  and  is  still  little  known  in  this 
country.  The  product  is  mainly  used  for  filling,  and  to 
such  extent  that  the  British  consumption  now  exceeds 
65,000,000  pounds  per  annum,  which  is  equal  to  the  en- 
tire Wool  crop  of  the  United  States  not  many  years  ago. 
13  a 


290  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

The  average  prices  of  Wool  at  our  principal  market 
(Boston)  for  the  thirty-five  years  preceding  1860  are 
given  by  Mr.  Kennedy  *  as  follows  :  Fine,  50-^  cents 
per  pound ;  Medium,  42T8^  ;  Coarse,  35£ ;  Average,  a 
little  under  43  cents.  Assuming  that  our  average  pro- 
duct of  Wool  for  those  eleven  years  was  56,000,000 
pounds  per  annum,  its  aggregate  value,  at  43  cents  per 
pound,  was  $  264,880,000 ;  so  that  we  imported  Wool 
and  Woollens  to  the  value  of  $  75,402,232  in  excess  of 
our  aggregate  product  of  Wool.  And  the  tendency,  at 
least  up  to  the  close  of  the  era  of  comparative  Free 
Trade,  waa.to  a  still  further  increase  of  our  annual  im- 
port alike  of  Wool  and  Woollens. 

In  1861,  higher  duties  on  both  were  imposed;  and 
these  were  still  further  enhanced  by  the  special  "  Wool 
Tariff"  of  1867,  under  which  the  rates  are  now  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

WOOL.     CLASS  No.  1. 
Clothing  wools,  value  32  cents  or  less  per  pound,  10  cents  per 

pound,  and  11  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 
Value  over  32  cents  per  pound,  12  cents  per  pound,  and  10 

per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

WOOL.     CLASS  No.  2. 
Combing  wools,  hair  of  the  alpaca,  goat,  or  other  like  animals, 

value  32  cents  or  less  per  pound,  10  cents  per  pound,  and 

11  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 
Value  over  32  cents  per  pound,  12  cents  per  pound,  and  10 

per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

WOOL.     CLASS  No.  3. 
Carpet  wools  and  other  similar  wools,  value  12  cents  or  less 

per  pound,  3  cents  per  pound. 
Value  over  12  cents  per  pound,  6  cents  per  pound. 
Sheep-skins  and  Angora  goat-skins,  raw  or  unmanufactured, 

imported  with  the  wool  on,  washed  or  unwashed,  30  per 

cent,  ad  valorem. 

1  See  Census  Report  aforesaid,  pp.  59-06, 


WOOL  AND  WOOLLENS.  291 

Woollen  rags,  shoddy,  mungo,  waste,  and  flocks,  12  cents  per 
pound. 

Wool,  all  manufactures  of,  or  of  which  wool  shall  be  a  com- 
ponent material,  not  otherwise  provided  for  in  this  act,  50 
cents  per  pound,  and  35  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

Flannels,  blankets,  hats  of  wool,  knit  goods,  balmorals,  woollen 
and  worsted  yarns,  and  all  manufactures  of  every  descrip- 
tion, composed  wholly  or  in  part  of  worsted,  the  hair  of 
the  alpaca,  goat,  or  other  like  animals,  except  such  as  are 
composed  in  part  of  wool,  not  otherwise  provided  for,  value 
40  cents  and  less  per  pound,  20  cents  per  pound,  and  35 
per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

Value  40  cents,  and  not  over  60  cents  per  pound,  30  cents 
per  pound,  and  35  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

Value  GO  cents,  and  not  over  80  cents  per  pound,  40  cents 
per  pound,  and  35  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

Value  above  80  cents  per  pound,  50  cents  per  pound,  and  35 
per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

On  endless  belts  or  felts  for  paper  or  printing  machines,  20 
cents  per  pound,  and  35  per  cent,  ad  vajorem. 

Bunting,  20  cents  per  square  yard,  and  35  per  cent,  ad  val. 

Women's  and  children's  dress  goods,  and  real  or  imitation, 
Italian  cloths,  composed  wholly  or  in  part  of  wools,  worsted, 
the  hair  of  the  alpaca,  goat,  or  other  like  animals,  value  not 
over  20  cents  per  square  yard,  6  cents  per  square  yard,  and 
35  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

Value  over  20  cents  per  square  yard,  8  cents  per  square  yard, 
and  40  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

Provided,  That  on  all  goods  weighing  four  ounces  and  over 
per  square  yard,  the  duty  shall  be  50  cents  per  pound,  and 
35  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

Clothing,  ready  made,  and  wearing  apparel  of  every  descrip- 
tion, and  Balmoral  skirts  and  skirtings,  and  goods  of  simi- 
lar description,  or  used  for  like  purposes,  composed  wholly 
or  in  part  of  wool,  worsted,  the  hair  of  the  alpaca,  goat, 
or  other  like  animals,  made  up  or  manufactured  wholly  or 
in  part  by  the  tailor,  seamstress,  or  manufacturer,  except 
knit  goods,  50  cents  per  pound,  and  40  per  cent,  ad  val. 

Webbings,  beltings,  bindings,  braids,  galloons,  fringes,  gimps, 


292  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

cords,  tassels,  dress  trimmings,  head-nets,  buttons  or  barrel 
buttons,  or  buttons  of  other  forms  for  tassels  or  ornaments, 
wrought  by  hand  or  braided  by  machinery,  made  of  wool, 
worsted,  or  mohair,  or  of  which  wool,  worsted,  or  mohair,  is 
a  component  material,  unmixed  with  silk,  50  cents  per 
pound,  and  50  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

CARPETING. 

Aubusson  and  Axminst'er,  50  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 
Carpets  woven  whole  for  rooms,  50  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 
Saxony,  Wilton,  and  Tournay  velvets,  wrought  by  the  Jac- 

quard  machine,  70  cents  per  square  yard,  and  35  per  cent. 
Brussels,  wrought  by  the  Jacquard  machine,  44  cents  per 

square  yard,  and  35  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 
Patent  velvet  and  tapestry  velvet,  printed  on  the  warp  or 

otherwise,  40  cents  per  square  yard,  and  35  per  cent,  ad  val. 
Tapestry  Brussels,  printed  on  the  warp  or  otherwise,  28  cents 

per  square  yard,  and  35  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 
Treble  ingrain,  three-ply,  and  worsted  chain  Venetian,  17 

cents  per  square  yard,  and  35  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 
Yarn,  Venetian,  and  two-ply  ingrain,   12  cents  per  square 

yard,  and  35  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 
Hemp  or  jute,  8  cents  per  square  yard. 
Drugget  or  bookings,  printed,  colored,  or  otherwise,  25  cents 

per  square  yard,  and  35  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 
Of  wool,  flax,  or  cotton,  or  parts  of  either,  or  other  material 

not  otherwise  provided  for,  40  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 
Provided,  That  mats,  rugs,  screens,  covers,  hassocks,  bedsides, 

and  other  portions  of  carpets  or  carpeting,  shall  be  subject 

to  the  rate  of  duty  herein  imposed  on  carpets  or  carpeting 

of  like  character  or  description. 
Mats,  all  other  (not  exclusively  of  vegetable  material),  screens, 

hassocks  and  rugs,  45  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 
Oil-cloths  for  floors,  stamped,  painted,  or  printed,  valued  at  50 

cents  or  less  per  square  yard,  35  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 
Value  over  50  cents  per  square  yard,  and  all  other  oil-cloth 

(except  silk  oil-cloth),  and  on  water-proof  cloth,  not  other- 
wise provided  for,  45  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 
Oil  silk  cloth,  60  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 


WOOL  AND  WOOLLENS. 

These  duties  are  higher  than  they  had  ever  hitherto 
been,  except,  possibly,  under  the  Tariff  of  1828.  But  it 
were  a  mistake  to  conclude  that  they  differ  in  principle, 
or  very  greatly  in  amount,  from  those  imposed  by  our 
previous  Protective  Tariffs.  The  principle  of  the  mini- 
mum is  embodied  in  each  and  all,  and  this  has  ever  been 
assailed  by  Free-Traders  as  taxing  exorbitantly  the 
coarser  and  cheaper  fabrics  mainly  worn  (they  allege)  by 
the  poor.  In  the  memorial  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce of  this  City,  praying  Congress  not  to  enact  the 
Tariff  of  1824,  I  find  this  subject  treated  as  follows  :  — 

"  A  principle  which  runs  through  the  entire  bill  has  par- 
ticularly attracted  the  attention  of  your  memorialists,  —  that 
spirit  of  patriotism,  which  proposes  to  tax  the  many  for  the 
benefit  of  a  few,  proposes  also  to  lay  the  burden  on  the  poor 
and  to  exempt  the  rich.  Those  articles  which  are  consumed 
by  the  poorer  and  more  laborious  classes  of  our  inhabitants 
are  loaded  with  enormous  duties,  while  those  used  almost  ex- 
clusively by  the  rich  are  taxed  at  a  comparatively  low  rate  :  a 
few  instances  will  illustrate  this  position.  Th£  duties  on  low- 
priced  cotton  goods,  on  cheap  flannels,  and  low-priced  wool- 
lens, will,  according  to  the  proposed  bill,  be  from  60  to  100  per 
cent,  and  on  low-priced  guns  140  per  cent.,  on  the  first  cost  : 
these  are  almost  exclusively  used  by  the  least  wealthy  part  of 
our  population ;  while  the  fine  cottons  which  pay  25  per  cent., 
fine  broadcloths  which  pay  30  per  cent,  and  elegant  fowling- 
pieces  which,  by  this  unskilful  project,  pay  6  per  cent,  only, 
are  used  almost  exclusively  by  the  rich." 

The  policy  of  our  Government,  with  regard  to  this, 
as  of  most  other  branches  of  manufacture,  may  be 
roughly  characterized  as  Protective  from  1824  to  1834  ; 
thenceforward,  a  gradual  reduction  of  duties,  until  they 
had  fallen  to  a  minimum  or  (so  called)  revenue  rate  of 
twenty  per  cent,  in  1842;  then  Protective  again  till  1847, 
when  the  Tariff  of  1846  took  effect ;  then  anti-Pro- 
tective till  1861  ;  thenceforward  Protective,  but  more 


294  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

decidedly  so  since  the  passage  of  the  Wool  and  Woollens 
Tariff  of  1867,  which  remains  in  force. 

What  have  been  the  more  important  consequences  of 
this  last  change  of  policy  ] 

Most  certainly,  if  either  wool-growers  or  woollen  manu- 
facturers anticipated  enhanced  prices  for  their  products 
because  of  the  Protection  thus  secured,  they  have  been 
disappointed.  Neither  Wool  nor  Woollens  now  command 
prices  so  high  (whether  computed  in  paper  or  in  coin)  as 
they  did  when  the  "  Wool  Tariff"  of  1867  was  enacted. 
The  law,  so  often  insisted  on  in  these  essays,  that  Pro- 
tection inevitably  tends,  by  stimulating  home  production, 
to  a  reduction  of  price,  is  here  strikingly  illustrated. 
The  prices  of  Wool  in  New  York  on  the  1st  of  October, 
in  each  of  the  years  1860,  1866,  and  1869  respectively, 
•were  as  follows  :  — 

1860.        1866.  1866. 

Gold.  Currency.      *SSBf" 

Fleece  per  pound,  coarse 

to  fine,  .        .'  .    30@60c.  47@75c. 

Pulled,  per  pound,  coarse 

to  fine,       .        .        .        25@55      30@65 


1860.  1869.  1869. 

Go,,,  Currency.       **$*S 

Fleece  per  pound,  coarse 

to  fine,  ....     30@60c.  40@65c. 
Pulled  per  pound,  coarse 

to  fine,       .        .        .        25@55  24@50 


Cheap  as  wool  may  be  deemed  in  this  country,  it  is 
cheaper  still  in  every  other.  Sheep  husbandry  in  Great 
Britain  is  sustained  by  the  price  of  mutton,  not  of 
sheep. 

The  prices  of  the  most  important  Woollen  Fabrics  ten 
years  ago,  (when  we  had  comparative  Free  Trade  in  Wool 
and  in  Woollens,)  and  now,  are  as  follows  :  — 


WOOL  AND  WOOLLENS.  295 


Price  in 

Price  in 

Currency 

FABRIC. 

1859. 

1869.1 

Price  in 

Flannels,  per  yard  — 

(Gold.) 

(Gold.) 

1869. 

A.  and  T.  white 

$0.18 

$0.16 

$0.21 

H.  A.  F.  scarlet 

.26 

.23 

.30 

J.  R.  F.  twilled  scarlet 

.30 

.29 

.37^ 

B.  twilled  scarlet    . 

.26 

.25 

.32^ 

Doubled  weight  scarlet  twilled  . 

.27| 

•30f 

.40" 

F.  &  C  

.36 

041 

4-4-i 

Talbot  Rf  plain  scarlet 

.26 

',25" 

'.32| 

G-.  M.  &  Co.  twilled  scarlet     . 

.23 

.20| 

.27 

E.  S  

.25 

.23 

.30 

N.  A.  M  

.25 

.23 

.30 

Ballam  bale  4-4  white,  No.  1. 

.75 

.65£ 

.85 

Ballam  bale  4-4  white,  No.  2. 

.60 

•53£ 

.70 

Ballam  bale  4-4  white,  No.  3.     . 

.45 

•40| 

col 

t&sim 

Ballam  bale  4-4  white,  No.  4. 

.40 

.34| 

.45 

Ballam  bale  4-4  white,  No.  5.     . 

.35 

.32| 

.42$ 

Blankets,  per  pair  — 

Holland  10-4  all  wool 

3.50 

4.23 

5.50 

Holland  11-4  all  wool      . 

5.00 

5.38 

7.00 

Cocheco  11-4  ex.  super 

6.00 

6.15 

8.00 

Cocheco  12-4  ex.  super  . 

7.50 

7.30 

9.50 

Cumberland  10-4 

3.00 

3.46 

4.50 

Cumberland     .... 

4.00 

4.23 

5.50 

Rochdale  10-4  super  extra  super 

3.50 

3.27 

4.25 

Rochdale  11-4  super  extra  super 

4.50 

4.03 

5.25 

Rochdale  12-4  super  extra  super 

5.50 

4.80 

6.25 

Rochdale  10-4  premium 

4.50 

4.23 

5.50 

Rochdale  11-4  premium  . 

5.50 

5.00 

6.50 

Rochdale  12-4  premium 

6.50 

5.77 

7.50 

Cassimeres,  per  yard  — 

\ 

1    fi9i 

1.34 

1  75 

Broad  Brook  Co.'s  fancy  cassi-  f 

@ 

@ 

Jli  1  '-/ 

@ 

meres  14  oz.  goods        .         C 

1.75 

1.44 

1.87$ 

Hamilton  Woollen  Co.'s  (1860) 

per  yard        .... 

ir      -52I 

.68^ 

Shawls  —  Middlesex  Co.'s 

7.00 

5.38 

7.00 

DeLaines  —  Hamilton    Woollen 

Co.'s  (1860)         . 

.16^ 

flr      .13 

•I'l'W 

i  Equivalent  in  gold  (gold  at  130).    October  average. 


296  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

Salisbury  Mills,  boys'  checks  per  yard 

(1860)  ....  $0.58f  $0.45£  $  0.59£ 

Salisbury  Mills  Eugenie  cloths  (1860)  .94  .69  .90J 

Salisbury  Mills  Silk  Codrington 

(1860)  1.52|  1.18$  1.54§ 

Crossley  Co.'s  Conn.,  tapestry  carpet  —  .96  1.25 

[The  imported  article  sold  in  1859  for  95  cents.] 

Whoever  may  have  suffered  from  the  change  of  policy 
initiated  in  1861  and  consummated  in  1867,  it  seems 
plain  that  the  purchasers  of  Woollen  Fabrics  for  consump- 
tion have  not.  Though  the  prices  of  Labor  and  the  cost 
of  Living  generally  have  been  largely  enhanced,  Wool 
and  home-made  Woollens  are  alike  cheaper  in  1869  than 
they  were  in  1860. 

What  consequences,  then,  have  resulted  from  this 
latest  triumph  of  the  principle  of  Protection  as  applied 
to  Wool  and  Woollens'? 

Mr.  Erastus  B.  Bigelow,  an  eminent  inventor  of  ma- 
chinery adapted  to  the  production  of  Woollens,  and 
President  of  the  National  Association  of  Wool  Manu- 
facturers, reports  *  our  aggregate  product  of  Wool  in 
1868  at  177,000,000  pounds,  or  nearly  thrice  the  amount 
we  produced  in  1860  ;  while  the  value  of  our  annual  pro- 
duct of  Woollen  Fabrics  is  given  by  him  at  $  1 75,000,000, 
against  a  like  product  of  $68,865,963  in  1860.  And 
this  increase  in  value  is  made  in  defiance  of  a  very  con- 
siderable reduction  in  the  average  price  of  those  fabrics 
since  1860. 

I  have  termed  the  above  statements  estimates ;  but 
they  are  founded  on  returns  made  to  the  National  Asso- 
ciation from  the  various  manufactories  throughout  the 
country,  with  nearly  all  of  which  it  is  in  correspondence. 

1  An  Address  on  the  Wool  Industry  of  the  United  States,  delivered 
at  the  Exhibition  of  the  American  Institute  in  the  City  of  New  York, 
October  5, 1869. 


WOOL   AND   WOOLLENS.  297 

Their  general  accuracy  is  confirmed  by  the  officially  re- 
ported fact  that,  while  our  annual  consumption  haa 
largely  increased,  our  importation,  whether  of  Wool  or 
Woollens,  is  actually  less  in  1868  than  it  was  in  1860. 
The  Treasury  returns  are  as  follows  :  — 

I860.  1868. 

Wool  imported,  value     .         .     $4,842,152     $3,915,262 
Woollens  imported,  vafce     .         37,937,190     32,409,759 


Decrease  in  Wool        ....        $  926,890 
Decrease  in  Woollens     ....     5,527,431 

That  great  improvement  has  meantime  been  effected 
in  the  quality  and  finish  of  our  Woollens  is  unquestion- 
able. The  late  Exhibition  demonstrated  this  beyond 
cavil.  We  are  now  making  not  only  far  more  but  far 
better  Woollen  fabrics  than  we  ever  did  prior  to  1867. 
We  are  producing  Broadcloths,  Beavercloths,  Brussels 
Carpets,  &c.,  &c.,  which  most  of  the  purchasers  sup- 
pose to  be  of  foreign  origin,  and  value  accordingly.  Of 
this  shameful  fact,  Mr.  Bigelow  instructively  says  :  — 

"  Notwithstanding  the  unquestionable  and  the  generally 
acknowledged  excellence  of  our  wool  manufactures,  those 
manufactures  still  suffer,  more  or  less,  in  the  market,  from 
prejudices  and  prepossessions  which  are  alike  ill  founded.  A 
preference  for  fabrics  of  foreign  origin  has  very  naturally 
come  down  from  the  time,  not  very  distant,  when  our  domes- 
tic products  were  generally  inferior.  Of  those  who  now 
habitually  insist  upon  buying  the  foreign  article,  some  are 
honestly  ignorant.  They  are  not  aware  of  any  improvement 
in  American  manufactures.  With  others,  it  is  the  merest 
aping  of  a  senseless  fashion.  But  the  delusion  could  not  be 
long  kept  up,  were  it  not  for  the  interest  of  the  dealer  to 
sustain  it.  It  is  easy  for  him  to  make  a  larger  profit  on  the 
imported  article,  from  the  fact  that  its  probable  cost  is  not  so 
generally  known.  In  many  instances,  the  temptation  is  so 
strong  that  truth,  honesty,  and  patriotism,  make  their  appeal 
in  vain.  Not  only  are  American  productions  systematically 


298  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

disparaged,  but,  in  a  multitude  of  instances,  these  very  pro- 
ductions are  labelled  as  French,  English,  or  German.  The 
extent  to  which  this  imposition  is  carried  is  known  only  to 
those  who  are  let  into  the  secret.  There  are,  probably,  very 
few  of  us  who  have  not  thus  been  taken  in.  And,  what  I 
am  inclined  to  regret  as  the  most  melancholy  thing  of  all,  is 
the  unquestioned  fact  that  some  of  the  manufacturers  them- 
selves have  consented  to  the  deed.  I  suppose  the  process  by 
which  such  a  bargain  is  consummated  to  be  somewhat  as  fol- 
lows :  A  manufacturer,  after  much  toil  and  outlay,  is  pre- 
pared to  introduce  a  fabric  not  before  made  here.  He  finds 
the  market,  however,  fully  supplied  with  the  foreign  article. 
Those  who  hold  it  give  him  no  encouragement;  for  they 
know  that  the  introduction  of  the  domestic  product  must  les- 
sen their  chance  for  high  profits.  Between  him  and  the  con- 
sumer (who  must  be  reached  somehow,  or  his  enterprise  fails) 
stands  a  class  of  men  whose  interest  it  is  to  sell  foreign  rather 
than  domestic  goods.  The  result  is  a  compromise.  Says  the 
dealer  to  him  :  '  I  like  your  goods ;  but  I  cannot  sell  them  as 
American.  Give  them  a  foreign  brand,  confine  the  product 
of  your  mill  to  me,  and  I  will  take  all  that  you  produce.'  The 
poor  manufacturer,  seeing  no  alternative,  closes  the  unhal- 
lowed bargain."  ) 

The  Woollen  manufacture  of  Great  Britain  is  at  least 
one  thousand  years  old ;  indeed,  it  is  known  to  have 
obtained  a  considerable  importance  while  England  was 
subject  to  the  Romans.  The  kindred  manufactures  of 
France  and  of  Belgium  have  likewise  been  many  centu- 
ries in  existence,  and  have  naturally  attained  great  per- 
fection, through  the  accumulation  of  capital,  the  progress 
of  invention,  and  like  causes.  Ours  is  of  comparatively 
recent  origin ;  for,  while  a  few  rude  "  fulling-mills  "  and 
small  manufactories  were  established  among  us  even  be- 
fore the  Revolution,  the  development  and  importance  of 
our  Woollen  industry  may  fairly  date  from  the  passage 
of  the  Tariff  of  1824,  while  nearly  all  our  great  Woollen 
mills  were  built  since  the  passage  of  the  Tariff  of  1842. 


WOOL   AND   WOOLLENS.  299 

If,  therefore,  our  Woollen  manufactures  were  still  rela- 
tively crude  and  imperfect,  that  circumstance  need  not 
excite  surprise  ;  but  the  fact  is  otherwise.  The  able  Re- 
port of  Mr.  Mudge  on  the  Great  Paris  Exposition,  al- 
ready quoted,  says  :  — 

"  The  many  practical  manufacturers  who  have  recently 
visited  Europe  for  the  express  purpose  of  studying  its  indus- 
tries, concur  in  declaring  that  in  these  respects  we  are  on  an 
equality  with  the  most  advanced  nations.  Laying  aside  the 
supposed  advantages  which  we  have  in  the  possession  of 
water-power,  upon  which  far  too  much  stress  is  laid  in  popu- 
lar estimates,  we  apply  everywhere,  in  our  fabrication  of 
woollens,  the  factory  system,  and  make  the  utmost  use  of 
mechanical  power,  while  handicraft  processes  are  still  largely 
used  abroad,  especially  in  weaving.  For  the  preparation  of 
card-wool,  no  machinery  at  the  Exposition  equalled  in  effi- 
ciency the  American  burring  machinery  exhibited,  such  as  is 
in  general  use  here.  In  the  carding  of  wool,  no  improve- 
ments were  seen  at  Virviers,  one  of  the  chief  centres  of  the 
card- wool  industry  in  Europe,  which  we  do  not  have  in  use. 
About  the  same  number  of  hands  were  employed  at  the  cards 
as  here.  Spinning  in  large  establishments  abroad  is  usually 
performed  by  mules;  while  jack-spinning  is  more  generally 
adopted  in  New  England,  as  better  suited  to  the  different 
qualities  and  quantities  of  yarns  demanded  by  the  variety  of 
fabrics  usually  produced  in  our  mills.  The  mules  used  here 
are  of  equal  efficiency  with  those  in  the  best  mills  of  Europe. 
With  respect  to  weaving,  it  was  remarked  that  looms  were 
being  constructed  at  Virviers  such  as  we  would  not  put  into 
our  mills  to-day.  It  was  also  remarked  that  no  European  looms 
for  weaving  fancy  goods  were  shown  at  the  Exposition  which 
would  bear  comparison  with  the  Crompton  loom  ;  and,  even 
upon  that  admirable  machine,  great  improvements  are  known 
to  be  in  progress.  The  other  processes  of  manufacture,  such 
as  dyeing,  are  the  same  as  in  Europe.  When  we  take  into 
consideration  the  greater  energy  and  intelligence  of  our  bet- 
ter fed  and  better  educated  workmen,  the  necessary  use  of 
every  labor-saving  process,  on  account  of  the  higher  cost  of 
13* 


300  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

labor  here,  and  the  admitted  superiority  in  construction  of 
American  machinery,  it  may  be  safely  asserted  that  a  yard 
of  cloth  is  made  in  this  country  with  less  hours  of  human 
labor  than  one  of  equal  quality  and  the  same  degree  of  finish 
abroad.  In  other  words,  a  week's  labor  will  produce  more 
yards  of  cloth  in  an  American  than  in  a  European  mill." 

"Well;  if  such  be  the  case,  what  further  need  of 
Protection  1 "  triumphantly  queries  a  Free-Trader.  The 
Report  proceeds  to  answer  as  follows  :  — 

"  But  it  is  said  that  a  yard  of  cloth  costs  less  in  Europe 
than  in  the  United  States.  Even  this  statement  requires 
qualification ;  for  the  American  laborer  can  purchase  here 
more  yards  of  cloth  with  the  produce  of  a  day's  work  than 
the  European  laborer :  the  ratio  of  the  price  of  cloth  in  this 
country,  to-day,  not  being  in  proportion  to  the  ratio  of  the 
rate  of  wages  of  ordinary  labor.  It  is  still  true  that  the 
money  cost  of  producing  cloths  is  greater  in  this  country  than 
in  Europe.  From  what  has  been  said,  it  is  apparent  that  the 
greater  money  cost  of  fabricating  cloths  is  not  due  to  any 
want  of  natural  advantages  or  any  deficiency  in  skill  and 
effective  labor  on  the  part  of  the  American  manufacturer.  It 
is  not  true  of  this  industry,  as  is  often  asserted  by  theorists, 
that  it  has  a  sickly  and  hot-bed  growth,  sustained  only  by  ar- 
tificial stimulus,  and  rendering  its  production  as  unnatural,  to 
use  Adam  Smith's  often  quoted  comparison,  as  that  of  wine 
produced  from  grapes  grown  in  the  greenhouses  of  Scotland. 
The  higher  cost  of  production  in  this  industry  is  due,  solely, 
to  natural  causes  inherent  in  the  condition  of  a  new  country 
and  a  progressive  people,  to  the  higher  rates  of  the  interest 
on  capital  required  to  initiate  and  sustain  industrial  enter- 
prises, and  the  higher  rates  of  wages  demanded  by  the  greater 
social  and  educational  requirements  of  our  industrial  popula- 
tion." 

The  Pacific  Mills,  Lawrence,  Mass.,  are,  I  believe, 
much  the  largest  producers  of  Woollens  in  America,  and 
perhaps  in  the  world.  The  following  table  shows  the 
prices  actually  paid  for  Labor  therein  :  — 


WOOL   AND  WOOLLENS.  301 


Pacific  Mills, 
Lawrence, 

Great 

Prance 
and 
Switzer- 

Belg'm 
and 
Ger- 

Ma 

iss.          Britain. 

land. 

many. 

Gold 

In 

In 

In 

Per  Week.                              Currency. 

at  133J 

Gold. 

Gold. 

Golf. 

Children  under  15  years        .        $  2.40 

$1.80 

$0.72 

$0.40 

$0.66 

Common  workers  in  carding     .      5.00 

3.75 

2.36 

1.20 

1.40 

Experienced  women  in  carding  )    ,-  „,. 
room    } 

5.40 

2.88 

1.44 

1.64 

Weavers,   females,  average  of}     0  ,, 
,  .         ,  -               ,                t    8.55 
plain  and  fancy-work      .         ) 

6.40 

3.98 

1.80 

1.80 

Common  men  mill-laborers        .      9.00 

6.75 

4.32 

Spinners  and  experienced  male  )  ....  .,, 
workers     .         .        .               j 

8.62 

6.24 

2.96 

2.96 

Dresser-tenders,  men,  average        16.68 

12.51 

8.40 

Men,  overlookers       .        .        .     13.50 

10.12 

7.20 

.  .  . 

We  have  in  this  country  fewer  holidays,  with  less  in- 
terruption of  regular  work  by  the  stopping  of  mills, 
than  they  have  in  Great  Britain,  and  there  is  a  larger 
proportion  earned  per  annum  than  would  appear  by  the 
above  weekly  statement. 

Professor  Leone  Levi,  of  London,  in  his  report  upon 
"  Estimates  of  the  Earnings  of  the  Working  Classes," 
page  13,  gives  the  average  earnings  of  551  workers  in 
a  cotton-mill  at  14s.  10  d.  sterling,  or  $3.56  per  week. 
This  work  was  published  in  1867.  There  has  been  no 
essential  change  in  the  wages  paid  at  the  Pacific  Mills 
since  that  year.  In  April,  1869,  the  wages  of  the  2,997 
of  their  mill  operatives  (being  the  whole  number  em- 
ployed at  that  date)  averaged  $  7.83  (equal  to  $  5.87  in 
gold)  per  week:  showing  a  weekly  difference  of  $2.31 
(gold)  in  favor  of  the  American  work-people.  Skilled 
work-women,  single,  such  as  weavers,  earn  at  Pacific 
Mills  from  $  4.75  to  $  6.85  ($  3.56  to  $  5.14  gold)  above 
the  cost  of  their  board,  lodging,  and  washing.  In  Great 
Britain,  the  excess  of  the  earnings  of  such  persons  above 
the  cost  for  same  items  is  about  $  1.58.  Skilled  men 
mill-workers,  single,  as  spinners,  weavers,  and  dresser- 


302  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

tenders,  earn  above  their  outlay  for  board,  lodging,  and 
washing,  $  7.25  to  $  12.43  ($  5.44  to  $  9.32  gold).  This 
class  in  Great  Britain  earn  a  like  excess  of  $2.88  to 
$  5.04  weekly. 

The  work-people  of  the  Pacific  Mills  are,  of  course,  to 
a  large  extent,  unmarried  persons.  In  April,  1869,  there 
were  781  housekeepers  employed  in  a  total  of  4,086  per- 
sons. Of  these  781,  there  were  227  living  in  their  own 
tenements ;  and  the  value  of  the  houses  and  lands  thus 
owned  by  these  work-people  was  $  413,163,  or  an  average 
of  $  1,820  for  each  person,  —  saved,  to  a  very  large  ex- 
tent, out  of  their  own  earnings. 

The  amount  deposited  with  the  cashier  of  the  corpora- 
tion by  the  work-people  for  safe-keeping  during  the  past 
two  years  is  $  80,732,  of  which  $  54,648  has  been  with- 
drawn, leaving  on  deposit  $  26,084.  This  is  irrespective 
of  the  sums  deposited  in  the  savings-banks  of  the  city, 
which  are  believed  to  be  very  large. 

In  1867,  when  provisions  were  in  some  items  higher 
than  now,  of  eight  families,  numbering,  including  adults 
and  children,  forty-six  persons,  taken  indiscriminately 
among  the  work-people  at  the  Pacific  Mills,  and  whose 
heads  earned  at  least  $  13  (currency)  per  week,  the  cost 
of  food  and  rent  for  each  person  per  week  was  $  2.24 
(currency).  Supposing  that  prices  have  not  materially 
fallen  since,  the  average  cost  per  week  in  gold  of  the 
living  of  each  adult  is  at  present  $  1.68. 

These,  then,  are  the  results  already  realized  from  the 
Protection  afforded  to  our  Wool  and  Woollen  industry  by 
the  increased  duties  imposed  by  the  Tariffs  of  1861-67 
inclusive :  — 

I.  A  very  considerable  increase  of  our  annual  produc- 
tion of  Wool,  and  a  much  larger  extension  of  our  Wool- 
len manufacture. 

II.  A  consequent  and  important  increase  in  the  amount 
paid  for  Labor  employed  in  our  Woollen  industry,  in  good 


WOOL  AND   WOOLLENS.  303 

part  to  women  and  children,  whose  earnings  and  acquired 
skill  are  substantially  so  much  added  to  our  National 
wealth. 

III.  A  very  decided  improvement  in  the  quality  and 
finish  of  our  Woollen  fabrics,  especially  Shawls,  Cassi- 
meres,  Beavercloths,  and  other  descriptions  intended  to 
be  worn  as  outer  garments ;  and 

IV.  All  these  advantages  secured  without  cost  to  our 
consumers ;  since  the  average  prices  of  substantial,  ser- 
viceable Woollen  fabrics  are  actually  cheaper  (in  gold)  to- 
day than  they  were  ten  years  ago. 

That  I  am  not  mistaken  on  this  head,  I  choose  to  es- 
tablish and  confirm  by  the  best  Free  Trade  authority. 
The  Evening  Post  of  October  6  is  eagerly  quoted  by  The 
Manchester  Guardian  (England)  as  thus  triumphantly 
proclaiming  "  What  Protection  has  done  for  the  Woollen 
trade  of  the  United  States  "  :  — 

"  The  wools  of  Europe,  of  the  Cape  of  G-ood  Hope,  of 
Australia,  and  of  Brazil,  were  excluded  here  by  the  duty ; 
they  filled  the  markets  of  Europe,  so  that  the  price  there  fell 
lower  than  ever  before.  English  manufacturers,  with  far 
cheaper  wool,  and  a  specie  currency,  made  goods  at  a  price 
which  defied  competition  by  the  United  States;  and  thus 
both  our  raw  wool  and  our  cloth  were  driven  from  all  foreign 
markets.  Even  the  enormous  duties  on  manufactured  wool- 
lens could  not  '  protect '  our  mills  against  their  cheap  cloths ; 
they  are  undersold  even  at  home  by  the  British,  although 
these  duties  are  so  high  that  nothing  but  extensive  smuggling 
can  account  for  the  low  prices  of  many  foreign  cloths  in  the 
United  States.  But  the  advantage  of  the  European  mills  in 
all  the  finer  fabrics  is  so  great  that,  even  after  paying  50  cents 
per  pound,  and  35  per  cent,  on  their  value  besides,  they  can 
sell  their  goods  here  more  cheaply  than  those  made  here. 
Our  mills  are  ruined ;  and  those  who  want  to  enjoy  the  bless- 
ings of  Protection  have  plenty  of  chances  now  to  buy  well- 
appointed  factories  at  a  small  percentage  of  their  actual  cost. 
Nor  are  the  wool-growers  better  off.  The  inquiry  for  the 
raw  material  here  has  been  discouraged  by  this  breaking  up 


304  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

of  the  trade,  so  that  it  has  brought  them  fewer  cents  in  paper 
since  the  high  tariff  was  passed  than  it  did  in  gold  before. 
Meanwhile,  the  people  at  large  have  suffered.  Every  person 
in  the  country  is  a  consumer  of  woollen  goods ;  and  every  one 
is  heavily  taxed  by  these  oppressive  duties.  Those  who  wear 
broadcloth  and  walk  on  luxurious  carpets  pay  so  much  more 
for  them  that  they  have  less  of  a  surplus  left  to  employ  other 
industries.  The  poor  man's  bed  is  less  warm,  and  his  home  less 
comfortable ;  for  he  must  buy  lighter  blankets  and  inferior  car- 
pets or  none  at  all.  Thus  the  whole  community  has  been  in- 
jured ;  and  even  the  classes  to  whom  these  duties  were  designed 
to  secure  a  monopoly  have  gained  nothing.  These  facts  are  now 
widely  known,  and  are  producing  their  natural  effect  upon 
intelligent  men.  Some  of  the  leading  manufacturers  of  wool- 
len goods  are  coming  to  the  support  of  the  principles  to  which 
they  have  so  long  been  blind.  Thousands  of  the  wool- 
growers  see  clearly  why  they  are  not  prospering,  and  demand 
a  repeal  of  the  taxes  on  the  necessaries  of  life ;  and  the  peo- 
ple, whose  only  interest  is  to  get  the  best  goods  at  fair  prices, 
are  beginning  to  ask  why  oppressive  duties,  which  benefit 
nobody,  should  be  maintained." 

This  testimony  of  a  bitter  adversary  to  Protection  is 
certainly  trustworthy  to  the  extent  of  its  bearing  in  our 
favor;  and  I  cannot  be  wrong  in  inferring  that,  with 
cheaper  Wool,  a  largely  increased  product  of  American 
Woollens,  and  no  profit  to  the  manufacturers,  our  con- 
sumers must  be  supplied  with  home-made  Woollens  at 
low  prices,  as  T  have  already  shown  that  they  are. 
Since  we  are  importing  fewer,  and  making  at  least  twice 
as  many  Woollens  as  we  did  ten  years  ago  (all  of  which 
find  markets  among  our  own  people),  if  "  our  mills  are 
ruined,"  as  The  Post  asserts,  and  "  well-appointed  fac- 
tories for  sale  at  a  small  percentage  of  their  actual  cost," 
then  it  is  clearly  untrue  that  Protection  exaggerates 
prices  and  robs  the  consumer  to  enrich  the  manufacturer. 
Certainly,  those  mills  are  not  "  ruined  "  by  making  from 
cheapened  Wool  goods  that  sell  much  higher,  in  an  ex- 
panded market,  than  they  did  ten  years  ago,  when  Wool 


WOOL  AND   WOOLLENS.  305 

was  higher  and  our  consumption  of  American  Woollens 
much  less.  Can  it  be  necessary  that  I  enlarge  on  this 
head  1  Is  not  the  demonstration  conclusive  on  a  mere 
statement  of  the  case  1 

Let  me  assume  that  my  readers  can  need  no  more 
argument  on  this  point,  and  close  with  simply  citing  the 
law  which  underlies  and  governs  the  facts,  as  set  forth 
by  Alexander  Hamilton  in  his  masterly  Eeport  to  Con- 
gress on  the  expediency  of  encouraging  Manufactures, 
nearly  eighty  years  ago  :  — 

"  But  though  it  were  true  that  the  immediate  and  certain 
effect  of  regulating  or  controlling  the  competition  of  foreign 
with  domestic  fabrics  was  to  increase  the  prices,  it  is  univer- 
sally true  that  the  contrary  is  the  ultimate  effect  with  every 
successful  manufacture.  When  a  domestic  manufacture  has 
attained  perfection,  and  has  engaged  in  the  prosecution  of  it  a 
competent  number  of  persons,  it  invariably  becomes  cheaper. 
Being  free  from  the  heavy  charges  which  attend  the  importa- 
tion of  foreign  commodities,  it  can  be  afforded,  and  accord- 
ingly seldom  or  never  fails  to  be  afforded,  cheaper,  in  process 
of  time,  than  the  foreign  article  for  which  it  is  a  substitute. 
The  internal  competition  which  takes  place  soon  does  away 
with  everything  like  monopoly,  and  by  degrees  reduces  the 
price  of  the  article  to  the  minimum  of  reasonable  profit  on 
the  capital  employed.  This  accords  with  the  reason  of  things 
and  with  experience.  Whence  it  follows  that  it  is  the  inter- 
est of  a  community,  with  a  view  to  eventual  and  permanent 
economy,  to  encourage  the  growth  of  manufactures  in  a  na- 
tional view.  A  temporary  enhancement  of  price  must  al- 
ways be  well  compensated  by  a  permanent  reduction  of  it." 

Possibly  we  have  now  abler  statesmen  than  Hamilton 
and  his  fellow-founders  of  our  National  existence,  though 
I  really  do  not  know  where  to  look  for  them.  I  cannot 
realize  that  views  broader,  more  sagacious,  more  lumi- 
nous, than  those  of  Hamilton,  whereof  I  have  just  given 
a  sample,  are  day  by  day  vouchsafed  us  by  Brick  Pome- 
roy,  S.  S.  Cox,  The  World's  buffoon,  and  Professor  Perry. 


306  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 


XXII. 
IMMIGRATION. 

THAT  Population  is  a  main  element  of  National 
strength,  —  that  its  rapid,  persistent  increase  implies 
National  growth  and  prosperity,  —  that  the  voluntary 
migration  of  thousands  from  their  native  land  to  one 
far  distant,  especially  if  its  language,  religion,  customs, 
institutions,  &c.,  differ  widely  from  those  in  which  the 
emigrants  have  hitherto  delighted,  argues  a  decided  pre- 
dominance of  attractions  and  advantages  in  the  land 
they  seek,  over  that*  they  abandon,  —  can  scarcely  need 
demonstration.  Fanaticism  may,  indeed,  impel  thou- 
sands of  its  votaries  to  leave  a  fertile  for  a  naturally 
sterile  and  forbidding  region ;  but  such  migrations  are 
of  rare  occurrence,  and  are  as  usually  limited  in  area 
as  transient  in  duration.  Religious  persecutions  have 
driven  thousands  from  the  soil  they  would  gladly  have 
clung  to  till  death  ;  but  these  have  exerted  little  influ- 
ence on  the  peopling  of  our  country  since  her  indepen- 
dence, and  seem  unlikely  to  prove  more  potent  in  the  next 
century  than  in  the  last.  It  is  within  the  truth  to  esti- 
mate that  fully  nine-tenths  of  those  who  have,  since 
1660,  come  hither  from  Europe  in  voluntary  quest  of 
new  homes,  have  been  mainly  impelled  by  the  hope  of 
thus  improving  their  pecuniary  or  social  condition,  and 
secxiring  for  their  offspring  larger  opportunities  and 
fairer  prospects  than  those  on  which  their  own  eyes  first 
opened. 

If  the  impression  prevails  that  our  country  has  been, 


IMMIGRATION.  307 

ever  since  her  independence  was  established,  the  cyno- 
sure and  chosen  home  of  the  less  fortunate  miUions  of 
the  Old  World,  that  impression  is  grounded  in  error. 
So  long  as  our  industry  remained  almost  exclusively 
Agricultural,  our  annual  Immigration  was  inconsiderable, 
although  the  system  under  which  a  foreigner  might  bind 
himself  to  a  sea-captain  (or  the  owners  of  his  vessel)  to 
serve  one,  three,  five,  or  seven  or  more  years  after  reach- 
ing our  shores,  in  payment  of  his  passage,  was  plainly 
calculated  largely  to  swell  the  volume  of  such  Immigra- 
tion, while  by  no  means  improving  its  quality.  Thou- 
sands of  these  "  redemptioners  "  were  thus  cast  upon, 
our  shores  who  would  never,  in  all  human  probability, 
have  made  their  way  hither  had  they  been  required  to 
earn  and  save  the  needful  passage-money  before  embark- 
ing. And  the  redemption  system,  however  objectionable 
as  a  whole,  was  not  without  beneficent  features.  The 
immigrant  was  not  put  ashore,  on  landing  in  America,  to 
make  his  way  as  he  might,  among  a  people  to  whom  his 
garb  was  strange,  and  his  manners  seemed  uncouth, 
while  his  speech  was  often  utterly  unintelligible.  The 
captain  or  consignee,  in  selling  his  services  for  the  speci- 
fied term,  provided  him  with  a  home  and  insured  him 
against  present  starvation  ;  if  he  landed  without  skill  in 
any  useful  art,  he  was  morally  certain  to  acquire  some 
industrial  proficiency  while  working  out  his  passage.  I 
presume  the  system  under  which  China  is  now  pouring 
her  superabundant  millions  upon  the  Western  hemi- 
sphere does  not  differ  essentially  from  that  our  fathers 
tolerated  and  legalized,  yet  which  we  have  long  since 
discouraged  and  discarded. 

If  a  hundred  persons,  taken  indiscriminately,  were 
severally  asked  to  indicate  the  chief  impulse  to  migra- 
tion, probably  the  answers  of  nine-tenths  of  them  would 
point  to  density  of  population  in  one  country,  paralleled 


308  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

by  sparseness  in  another  ;  yet  they  would  hardly  be  sus- 
tained by  the  facts.  I  judge  that  thinly  peopled  Scot- 
land, Switzerland,  or  even  Norway,  supplies  more  emi- 
grants to  the  New  World  than  teeming  London,  Paris, 
or  Lancashire.  The  general  truth  that  population  tends 
to  abandon  purely  agricultural  regions  for  those,  more 
densely  peopled,  whose  industry  is  diversified,  is  illustrated 
by  what  is  perpetually  going  on  in  our  own  country,  in 
Canada,  and  in  many  others.  Says  The  New  American 
Cyclopaedia  : 1  — 

"It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  emigration  from  some  Eu- 
ropean countries  —  Rhenish  Prussia,  and  Westphalia,  for  in- 
stance —  is  in  an  inverse  ratio  to  population.  That  is  to  say, 
the  largest  number  emigrate  from  the  most  thinly  settled 
agricultural  districts ;  these  having,  relatively,  a  larger  over- 
population than  those  in  which  agricultural  and  manufactur- 
ing pursuits  are  combined." 

The  readers  of  these  essays  will  not  be  at  a  loss  for 
the  reason  of  this  anomaly,  superficially  considered. 

Though  the  fearful  and  wide-spread  convulsions  at- 
tending and  following  the  French  Revolution,  reducing 
multitudes  from  wealth  and  comfort  to  want  and  misery, 
driving  many  into  exile  and  expelling  myriads  from  their 
homes,  would  seem  calculated,  especially  when  supple- 
mented by  the  "  redemption "  system,  to  have  flooded 
our  shores  with  immigrants,  the  number  actually  drawn 
or  driven  hither  throughout  our  Free-Traders'  golden 
age  of  low  tariffs  and  exclusive  devotion  to  Agriculture, 
was  surprisingly  small.  Samuel  Blodgett,  who  wrote  in 
1806,  and  who  is  indorsed  by  Bromwell,  in  his  History 
of  Immigration,  written  half  a  century  later,  as  "  a  sta- 
tistician of  more  than  ordinary  research  and  accuracy," 
affirms  that  the  immigrants  to  this  country  in  the  ten 
years  prior  to  1794  did  not  exceed  4,000  per  annum; 

1  Article  on  Emigration,  Vol.  VH. 


IMMIGRATION.  309 

and,  though  10,000  were  supposed  to  have  come  hither 
in  1 794,  the  current  forthwith  subsided ;  so  that  the 
Hon.  Adam  Seybert  (M.  C.  from  Pennsylvania),  writing  in 
1818,  estimates  the  average  migration  hither,  from  1796 
to  1810,  at  G,000  per  annum;  and  he  adds  that,  admit- 
ting 10,000  to  have  come  over  in  1794,  that  number  re- 
mained without  parallel  down  to  1817.  In  that  year, 
22,240  persons  arrived  at  our  ports;  of  whom,  after  due 
deduction  for  voyagers  on  business  or  for  pleasure,  we 
may  estimate  the  immigrants  who  remained  with  us  at 
15,000. 

By  an  act  of  Congress  approved  March  2,  1819,  col- 
lectors of  customs  were  required  to  keep  a  record  and 
make  a  quarterly  return  to  the  Treasury  of  all  passen- 
gers arriving  in  their  respective  districts  from  foreign 
ports  ;  and  these  reports,  duly  condensed  in  the  Depart- 
ment, are  the  chief  bases  of  our  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
sequent growth  and  progress  of  Immigration.  Mr. 
Bromwell's  volume,1  being  compiled  from  official  sources, 
may,  so  far  as  it  speaks,  be  trusted  implicitly ;  and  it 
gives  the  total  number  of  foreign-born  passengers  arriv- 
ing at  the  ports  of  the  United  States  in  the  several  years 
from  1820  to  1855  inclusive,  as  follows  :  — 

1820  .  . 

1821  . 

1822  .  . 
1823 

1824  .  . 

1825  . 

1826  .  . 

1  History  of  Immigration  into  the  United  States.    By  Wm.  J.  Brom- 
•well,  of  the  Department  of  State.    Redfield,  New  York,  1856. 

2  Hitherto,  each  year  has  closed  with  September;  but  for  this  and 
the  ten  following  years  the  arrivals  during  the  calendar  year  are  given, 
so  that  the  return  for  1832  contains  the  arrivals  for  five  quarters,  or 
fifteen  mouths. 


8,385 

1827  .  .  . 

.  18,875 

9,127 

1828  .  .  . 

27,382 

6,911 

1829   .  .  , 

22,520 

6,354 

1830  .  .  . 

23,322 

7,912 

1831   .  . 

.  22,633 

10,199 

1832  .  .  . 

2  60,482 

10,837 

1833   .  . 

,  58,640 

310  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

1834  .     .     .     65,365  1845      .     .     .  114,371 

1835  .    .     .  45,374  1846    .     .     .     154,416 

1836  .     .    .     76,242  1847      .     .     .  234,968 

1837  .     .    .  79,340  1848    .     .     .     226,527 

1838  .    .     .     38,914  1849      .     .    .  297,024 

1839  .     .     .      68,069  1850    .     .     .  *  369,980 

1840  .     .     .     84,066  1851       .     .     .  379,466 

1841  .     .     .      80,289  1852    .     .     .     371,603 

1842  .    .     .  104,565  1853      .    .     .  368,645 

1843  .     .    .    » 52,496  1854    .    .     .    427,833 

1844  .    .     .     78,615  1855      .     .     .  200,877 

[NOTE.  —  The  greatly  increased  volume  of  Immigration 
which,  beginning  to  swell  in  1849,  reached  its  maximum  in 
1854,  was  doubtless  impelled  by  the  discovery  of  Gold  in 
California  in  1848,  with  the  consequent  rush  of  thousands 
thither,  and  the  resulting  momentum  imparted  to  both  our 
Agriculture  and  our  Manufactures  by  the  new  and  rapidly 
expanding  markets  opened  to  them  on  the  Pacific.] 

This  table  exhibits  vividly  the  growth  and  progress 
of  Immigration  to  this  country  from  its  inconsiderable 
infancy  to  its  ripe  maturity  ;  and  I  submit  that  no  fair 
mind  can  gravely  deny  that  it  is  a  direct  consequence 
of  the  establishment  and  growth  of  our  Home  Manufac- 
tures. So  long  as  our  industry  remained  almost  exclu- 
sively Agricultural,  we  failed  to  attract  any  considerable 
Immigration :  the  total  number  of  immigrants  for  the 
forty  years  which  followed  the  establishment  of  our  In- 
dependence not  having  exceeded  300,000  ;  while  during 
the  next  forty  years  —  which  may  be  designated  by  com- 
parison our  Manufacturing  era  —  our  annual  increase  of 
population  from  this  source  mounted  from  a  maximum 
of  10,199  to  one  of  427,833,  and  our  aggregate  accession 

1  In  1842,  the  fiscal  year  was  changed  again,  so  as  to  close  with  Sep- 
tember; so  this  is  the  return  for  but  three  quarters,  as  that  of  1832  was 
for  Jive. 

3  Changed  back  again;  so  that  this  return  includes  the  arrivals  for 
Jive  quarters. 


IMMIGRATION.  311 

of  inhabitants  from  abroad  was  about  Four  Millions. 
And,  in  spite  of  our  great  Civil  War,  our  gain  by  immi- 
gration during  the  last  thirteen  years  must  have  largely 
exceeded  Two  Millions. 

Nor  is  this  all.  A  very  large  proportion  of  these  im- 
migrants approach  our  shores  in  the  flower  of  their  youth 
or  in  tte  early  prime  of  life,  and  soon  become  parents 
of  vigorous,  hardy  children.  Much  has  of  late  been 
absurdly  said  of  the  decay  of  the  reproductive  power, 
especially  of  our  primitive  New  England  stock,  and  of 
the  prospect  that  this  will  soon  be  supplanted  around  the 
very  hearth-stones  of  the  Puritans  ;  the  grain  of  truth 
at  the  bottom  of  this  heap  of  chaff  being  simply  this  : 
New  England  has  for  half  a  century  been  sending  forth 
the  most  enterprising  and  energetic  of  her  sons  and 
daughters  to  people  and  civilize  the  vast  regions  which 
lie  between  her  and  the  Pacific  ;  and  she  has  been  prof- 
fering homes  and  work  in  their  stead  to  the  physically 
robust  but  intellectually  less  developed  youth  of  West- 
ern Europe  and  of  Canada.  Of  course,  a  very  large 
proportion  of  those  now  born  on  her  soil  are  children  of 
foreign-born  parents,  just  as  a  large  portion  of  those 
born  in  the  Great  West  proudly  trace  their  origin  back 
to  a  New  England  ancestry.  I  presume  that  this  trans- 
fusion of  blood  is  beneficial  both  to  the  East  and  the 
West ;  and  I  do  not  apprehend  that  the  original  New 
England  stock  is  in  any  more  danger  of  being  supplanted 
or  run  out  at  home  than  Ireland  is  of  ceasing,  because 
of  emigration,  to  be  Irish. 

Of  the  immigrants  who  landed  on  our  shores  in  the 
forty  years  ending  with  1860,  there  came  from  different 
countries  as  follows  :  — 

Great  Britain  and  Germany    .     .    .     1,546,476 

Ireland    .     .     .    2,750,874    Holland 21,579 

France 208,063    Mexico 17,766 


312  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

West  Indies     .     .     .     40,487  Italy    ......  11,202 

Sweden  and  Norway    36,129  Belgium     .     .     .     .     .  9,862 

South  America .     .     .     6,201     Denmark 5,548 

The  Azores     ....  3,242     Portugal 2,614 

Sardinia 2,030     Poland 1,659 

Russia 1,374  All  other  and  not 

Switzerland.     .     .     .37,733        stated 318,140 

China 41J443 

Total 5,062,414 

[NOTE. —  Of  the  large  number  who  came  to  us  from  British 
ports,  it  is  probable  that  fully  2,000,000  were  Irish,  while  a 
considerable  number  had  made  their  way  from  Germany, 
France,  Belgium,  Sweden,  &c.,  to  Great  Britain,  thence  em- 
barking for  this  country.  So  a  considerable  proportion  of 
those  who  embarked  from  French  ports  were  probably  Ger- 
mans, Belgians,  or  Swiss. 

Up  to  a  recent  period,  fully  half  of  our  immigrants  were 
of  Irish  birth ;  but  of  late  migration  from  Ireland  has  fallen 
off,  while  that  from  far  more  spacious  and  populous  Germany 
has  largely  increased,  so  that  the  last-named  country  (or 
countries)  is  probably  sending,  and  will  henceforth  send,  us 
^more  people  than  all  the  British  Isles.  The  migration  hither 
from  Sweden,  Norway,  and  Denmark  (sometimes  grouped  as 
Scandinavia),  has  also  largely  increased ;  being  mainly  at- 
tracted to  the  congenial  climate  of  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  and 
their  vicinity.] 

Since  1855,  the  whole  number  of  persons,  other  than 
natives  of  the  United  States,  who  arrived  as  passengers 
at  our  ports  was  in  each  year  as  follows  :  — 

1856  .     .     .    200,436          1863    .     .     .     176,282 

1857  .     .     .      251,306          1864  .     .     .       193,418 

1858  .     .     .     123,126          1865    .     .     .     248,120 

1859  .     .     .       121,282          1866  .     .     .      318,554 

1860  .     .     .     153,640          1867     .     .     .     298,358 

1861  ....   91,920          1868  .     .     .      297,215 

1862  .     .     .      91,987 

Total  in  13  years        .        .        .        .  2,565,644 


IMMIGRATION.  313 

While  it  is  probable  that  this  somewhat  exceeds  the 
whole  number  of  immigrants,  —  many  persons  of  foreign 
birth  arriving  by  sea  who  were  not  immigrants,  but  mer- 
cantile or  other  travellers,  —  it  should  be  considered  that 
thousands  annually  migrate  hither  from  (or  through)  the 
Canadas,  who  do  not  count  in  the  above  exhibit,  not 
having  reached  us  by  sea.  Thousands  annually  leave 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland  in  vessels  whose  destination 
is  British  America ;  but  their  emigrant  passengers  are 
scarcely  landed  in  the  New  World  ere  they  strike  a  bee- 
line  for  the  United  States.  Others  give  the  Canadas  a 
trial,  but  are  soon  driven  thence,  by  their  comparative 
lack  of  enterprise  and  dearth  of  employment,  to  the 
greater  activity,  more  rapid  growth,  and  ampler  wages, 
proffered  by  the  Union. 

Of  the  above  aggregate  immigration  for  thirteen 
years,  there  came  to  us  from  different  countries  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

British  Isles     .     .     1,215,600  Germany,  including 

British  America.     .     108,531  Austria  ....    911,426 

Sweden  and  Norway    58,289     China 65,943 

Denmark     ....     13,043  Holland      ....      11,205 

France 49,383  West  Indies     .     .     .     10,745 

Switzerland     .     .     .     24,539     Spain 10,340 

Italy 13,088     Belgium 8,245 

Hungary 487     Russia 1,761 

Azores 4,588     Poland 2,209 

Central  America .     .     .3,351  Portugal    .     .     •     .     .    2,090 

South  America .     .     .     2,452  All  others    ....   48,329 

For  the  last  fiscal  year,  closing  with  June,  1869,  there 
came  to  the  United  States  by  sea,  other  than  natives  of 
this  country,  no  less  than  352,569  persons,  of  whom 
214,746  were  males,  and  137,283  females.  They  hailed 
from  different  countries  as  follows  :  — 
14 


314  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

Great    Britain    and  Germany  and  Aus- 

Ireland  ....    125,224        tria 132,537 

British  North  Amer-  France 3,879 

ica 20,918  Switzerland  ....  3,650 

Sweden  and  Norway     40,292  Denmark      ....  3,G49 

China .......    12,874  Italy 1,488 

Belg.um 1,922  Spain 1,123 

Holland 1,134  All  other  countries     .  3,879 

Frederick  Kapp,  one  of  our  State's  Commissioners  of 
Emigration,  in  a  paper  recently  read  by  him  before  the 
Social  Science  Association,  sums  up  the  influence  of 
political  and  commercial  convulsions  and  of  good  or  bad 
harvests  upon  the  volume  of  European  migration  hither- 
ward,  as  follows  :  — 

"  The  difficulty  experienced  in  disposing  of  property  at 
satisfactory  prices  prevented  many  from  leaving  the  Old 
World  immediately  after  the  close  of  the  Napoleonic  wars. 
But  the  great  famine  of  1816-17  drove  several  thousands 
over  the  ocean.  Here  it  may  be  stated  that,  from  that  time 
forward,  the  moral  and  material  causes  of  immigration, 
above  alluded  to,  regularly  governed  the  numerical  propor- 
tions of  the  influx  of  Europeans  into  the  United  States  in 
successive  years.  -  To  prove  the  controlling  influence  exercised 
over  immigration  by  material  misery,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
political  oppression  on  the  other,  a  few  statistical  data  will 
suffice: 

"  While,  in  1826,  of  18,837  immigrants,  7,709  came  from 
the  British  Isles,  in  1827  their  number  increased  to  11,952  of 
18,875,  and  in  1828  to  17,840,  of  a  total  of  27,283  ;  but  in 
1829  their  number  fell  to  10,594  of  -22,530,  and  in  1830  to 
3,874  of  23,322  souls.  These  fluctuations  were  due  to  the 
great  commercial  panic  of  1826,  and  the  distress  in  the  manu- 
facturing districts  of  England,  as  well  as  the  famine  in  Ire- 
land, which  drove  thousands  from  their  homes  who,  under 
ordinary  circumstances,  would  never  have  thought  of  emigra- 
tion. 

"  Again,  in  Germany,  where  the  abortive  revolutionary 
movement  of  1830  -  33,  the  brutal  political  persecutions  of 


IMMIGRATION.  315 

the  several  State  governments,  and  the  reactionary  policy  of 
the  Federal  Diet,  as  well  as  a  general  distrust  of  the  future, 
produced  an  unusually  large  emigration.  In  1831,  only 
2,395  Germans  had  arrived  in  the  United  States ;  in  1832, 
10,168 ;  in  1833,  6,823  ;  and  in  1834  to  1837,  the  years  of 
the  greatest  political  depression,  17,654,  8,245,  20,139,  and 
23,035,  respectively. 

"  The  emigration  from  Ireland,  which  from  1822  rose  much 
beyond  its  former  proportions,  reached  its  culminating  point 
after  the  great  famine  of  1846.  During  the  decade  of  1845 
to  1854  inclusive,  in  which  period  the  highest  figures  ever 
known  in  the  history  of  emigration  to  the  United  States 
were  reached,  1,512,100  Irish  left  the  United  Kingdom.  In 
the  first  half  of  that  decade,  viz.  from  January  1,  1845,  to 
December  31,  1849,  607,241  went  to  the  United  States;  and 
in  the  last  half,  viz.  from  January  1,  1850,  to  December  31, 
1854,  as  many  as  904,859  arrived  in  this  country.  With 
this  unprecedcntedly  large  emigration,  Ireland  had  ex- 
hausted herself.  Since  1855,  her  quota  has  fallen  off  to 
less  than  one-half  of  the  average  of  the  preceeding  ten 
years. 

"  Almost  coincident  in  point  of  time  with  this  mighty 
exodus  from  Ireland  was  the  colossal  emigration  from  Ger- 
many, which  followed  the  failure  of  the  political  revolutions 
attempted  in  1849  and  1851.  Already,  in  1845  and  the  follow- 
ing years,  the  German  contingent  of  emigrants  to  the  United 
States  showed  an  average  twice  as  large  as  in  the  same  space 
of  time  previous  to  the  year  named.  But  a  voluntary  expa- 
triation on  a  much  larger  scale  resulted  from  the  final  triumph 
of  political  reaction.  The  coup  d'etat  of  Louis  Napoleon 
closed  for  all  Europe  the  revolutionary  era  opened  in  1848. 
In  the  three  years  preceding  that  event,  the  issue  of  the 
struggle  of  the  people  against  political  oppression  had  re- 
mained doubtful.  But  the  second  of  December,  1851,  having 
decided  the  success  of  the  oppressors  for  a  long  time  to  come, 
the  majority  of  those  who  felt  dissatisfied  with  the  reaction- 
ary regime  left  their  homes.  The  fact  that  the  largest  num- 
ber of  Germans  ever  landed  in  one  year  in  the  United  States 
came  in  1854,  showed  the  complete  darkening  of  the  political 


316  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

horizon  at  that  time.  The  apprehension  of  a  new  Continental 
war,  which  actually  broke  out  a  year  later  in  the  Crimea,  also 
hastened  the  steps  of  those  who  sought  refuge  in  this  coun- 
try. People  of  the  well-to-do  classes,  who  had  months  and 
years  to  wait  before  they  could  sell  their  property,  helped  to 
swell  the  tide  to  its  extraordinary  proportions.  From  January 
1,  1845,  till  December  31,  1854,  there  arrived  1,226,392  Ger- 
mans in  the  United  States;  452,943  of  whom  came  in  the 
first  five  years  of  this  period,  and  773,449  in  the  last  five. 

"  But  the  numerical  strength  of  immigration  to  this  country 
is  not  governed  solely  by  the  manifestation  in  Europe  of  ma- 
terial and  moral  disturbances.  While  bad  crops,  commercial 
and  industrial  crises,  and  unfavorable  turns  in  political  affairs 
in  the  Old  World,  tend  to  increase  immigration,  the  appear- 
ance of  the  same  phenomena  in  the  United  States  as  certain- 
ly tends  to  decrease  it.  Thus,  in  1838,  the  total  of  immigra- 
tion decreased  to  38,914,  while  in  the  previous  year  it  had 
amounted  to  79,340,  and  in  1839  and  1840  it  increased  again  to 
68,069  and  84,066,  respectively.  The  reason  of  this  extraor- 
dinary decrease  was  the  great  financial  crisis  of  1837,  which 
shook  the  foundations  of  the  whole  industrial  and  agricultural 
life  of  the  United  States.  Again,  the  influx  of  aliens  into 
New  York  was  smaller  in  1858  and  1859  than  in  any  previous 
year  since  1842,  for  the  only  reason  that  the  commercial  crisis 
of  1857  had  frightened  off  many  of  those  who  wanted  to 
make  a  living  by  the  labor  of  their  hands.  In  1858  and  1859,  . 
only  78,589  and  79,322  emigrants,  respectively,  arrived  in 
New  York ;  while  in  1856,  their  number  amounted  to  142.342, 
and  irf  1857,  to  186,733.  In  1860,  it  rose  to  105,162 ;  but,  in 
consequence  of  the  civil  war,  which  broke  out  in  1861,  it  fell 
again  in  1861  to  65,539,  and  in  1862  to  76,306.  In  1867,  the 
German  immigration  to  New  York  increased  over  that  of 
1866  by  more  than  10,000,  in  which  last-mentioned  year  it 
had  already  reached  the  large  number  of  106,716  souls.  Its 
ranks  were  swelled  in  1867  in  consequence  of  the  emigration 
of  men  liable  to  military  service  from  the  new  provinces 
annexed  to  Prussia  in  1866,  and  of  families  which  were  dis- 
satisfied with  the  new  order  of  things.  Hanover  contributed 
the  largest  share  of  this  kind  of  emigration.  In  1868,  the 


IMMIGRATION.  317 

tide  subsided  again,  as  people  began  to  become  reconciled 
to  the  sudden  change. 

"  In  short,  bad  times  in  Europe  regularly  increased,  and 
bad  times  in  America  invariably  diminished,  immigration." 

In  the  last  century,  and,  measurably,  throughout  the 
first  quarter  of  this,  the  immigration  to  this  country, 
being  largely  made  up  of  "  redemptioners,"  added  little 
to  our  national  wealth  beyond  the  value  embodied  in 
their  stout  and  willing  arms.  Since  then,  however,  their 
average  pecuniary  condition  has  steadily  improved,  until 
Mr.  Kapp's  estimate  —  founded  on  much  observation  and 
intimate  knowledge  —  makes  the  average  value  of  the 
property  they  bring  with  them  $  150  per  head,  which,  if 
they  number  250,000  per  annum,  gives  an  addition  to 
our  national  wealth  of  $  37,500,000  from  this  source. 
Of  this  aggregate,  probably  $  20,000,000  comes  in  the 
form  of  money,  or  of  bills  of  exchange,  which  subserve 
the  same  end  in  reducing  the  heavy  balance  of  trade 
against  us. 

Nor  is  this  all.  The  official  returns  clearly  indicate 
an  improvement  in  the  industrial  capacity  of  our  immi- 
gration. In  the  four  years  1857  —  60 'inclusive,  the 
number  of  immigrants  reported  as  mechanics  was  but 
56,194  ;  while,  for  the  four  years  1865  -  68,  the  number 
so  reported  was  87,421,  — an  increase  which  I  am  confi- 
dent would  not  have  been  shown  had  not  the  former 
been  an  era  of  relative  Free  Trade,  while  the  latter  was 
one  of  Protection. 

Immigration  is  not  an  unmixed  good.  Very  much 
depends  on  its  quality.  Said  stout,  sensible,  practical 
Captain  John  Smith,  writing  home  to  the  London  Com- 
pany which  had  employed  him  to  found  the  Colony  of 
Virginia,  from  amidst  the  unpromising  material  with 
•which  they  had  supplied  him,  "  When  you  send  again,  I 


318  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

entreat  you  rather  to  send  but  thirty  carpenters,  hus- 
bandmen, gardeners,  fishermen,  blacksmiths,  masons,  and 
diggers-up  of  trees'-roots,  well  provided,  than  a  thousand 
of  such  as  we  have."  A  good  many  colonizers  and  found- 
ers of  States  have  preferred  similar  requests,  though 
seldom  with  equally  pressing  reasons  for  so  doing.  If 
all  the  thieves  and  harlots,  blacklegs  and  beggars,  of 
Europe,  were  to  proffer  us  assurances  of  their  distin- 
guished consideration,  proposing  to  honor  us  with  the 
light  of  their  countenances  on  and  after  the  opening  of 
the  next  Spring,  we  should  doubtless  advise  them  of  our 
ability  and  willingness  to  spare  them  that  proof  of  their 
affection.  Their  coming  would  add  largely  to  our  num- 
bers, but  nothing  at  all  to  our  strength,  our  worth,  or 
our  happiness.  Hence,  we  have  always  repelled,  as  add- 
ing insult  to  injury,  every  detected  attempt  of  German 
princelings  or  Belgian  municipalities  to  saddle  \is  with 
the  care  and  subsistence  of  their  criminals,  vagrants,  or 
paupers.  Doubtless,  these  have,  through  collusion  with 
sea-captains,  been  thrown  upon  our  charity  by  thousands 
without  eliciting  even  a  remonstrance  ;  but  that  was  be- 
cause the  wrong  was  committed  so  adroitly  as  to  escape 
detection  :  whenever  we  have  learned  that  a  European 
prison  or  poor-house  had  been  emptied  on  our  shores,  we 
have  resented  it  as  a  dastardly  outrage.  And,  on  the 
other  hand,  we  have  welcomed  every  immigrant,  no  mat- 
ter how  poor  and  illiterate,  who  brings  hither  an  honest 
heart  and  two  brown  hands,  as  a  positive  and  valued  ac- 
quisition. Though  he  have  less  than  a  sovereign  or  na- 
poleon in  his  pocket,  if  he  steps  ashore  able  and  willing 
to  wield  the  spade  and  the  pick-axe,  he  is  prized  as  an 
accession  to  our  strength  and  our  wealth. 

And,  while  a  stout  ditcher  or  collier  is  justly  thus 
valued,  a  thoroughly  skilful  and  capable  engineer  or  ar- 
tificer is  a  still  more  precious  acquisition.  In  winning 


IMMIGRATION.  319 

Agassiz  from  Europe,  we  secured  an  acquisition  of 
greater  value  than  twenty  day-laborers  ;  could  we  at  the 
same  time  have  won  Liebig  likewise,  we  should  have 
justly  been  more  proud  of  our  acquisition  than  though 
it  had  been  another  Alaska  or  St.  Thomas.  Had  it 
pleased  God  to  send  us  Watt  and  Arkwright  and  George 
Stephenson  in  their  early  manhood,  the  gift  would  have 
been  worth  more  to  us  than  Canada  or  Mexico. 

Now,  one  inevitable  consequence  of  the  establishment 
of  Manufactures  on  our  soil  has  been  the  attraction  to 
our  shores  of  a  higher  order  of  industrial  ability  (or 
faculty,  to  use  a  good  old  word  in  its  wholesome  Yankee 
significance)  than  we  formerly  did,  or  could  otherwise 
hope  to  do.  We  could  not  expect  to  draw  men  of  high 
capacity  hither  until  we  could  proffer  them  congenial 
and  remunerative  employment.  A  Roebling  or  an  Elias 
Howe  is  even  less  likely  to  be  attracted  to  citizenship  in 
Paraguay  or  Abyssinia  than  to  be  developed  among  her 
indigenous  population.  If  we  had  been  content  with 
Agriculture  as  a  National  pursuit,  we  should  no  more 
have  drawn  hither  the  better  class  of  European  artisans 
than  developed  the  inventive  and  higher  industrial  pow- 
ers of  our  native'-born  population.  As  it  is,  while  we 
have,  on  the  one  hand,  enriched  the  world  by  our  great 
inventions,  we  have,  on  the  other,  enriched  ourselves  by 
putting  to  use  among  us  the  great  inventions  simultane- 
ously produced  on  foreign  soil. 

When  Louis  XIV.,  misnamed  the  Great,  revoked  the 
edict  of  Nantes,  whereby  Henry  IV.  had  guaranteed  re- 
ligious liberty  to  all  Frenchmen  of  whatever  communion, 
—  when  Louis  set  on  his  "  booted  apostles  "  to  hunt  the 
Protestants  out  of  France  or  out  of  the  world,  —  he  did 
not  realize  that  he  was  driving  away  the  most  precious 
wealth  of  his  kingdom.  It  was  not  the  mere  loss  of  a 
million  and  a  half  of  her  people,  that  thus  crippled  and 


320  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

impoverished  France  ;  it  was  the  fact  that  these  were 
in  large  measure  manufacturers  and  artisans,  the  most 
intelligent,  ingenious,  and  skilful  of  her  people.  They 
carried  with  them,  into  their  enforced  exile,  arts  which 
their  native  land,  so  unworthy  bf  them,  could  hardly 
spare ;  they  bore  away  to  Germany,  Holland,  Great 
Britain,  industrial  devices  and  processes,  the  loss  of 
which  France  still  mourns.  Her  marvellous  genius, 
Palissy,  who  lived  to  exalt  by  his  achievements  Pottery 
from  its  former  low  estate  into  one  of  the  rarest  and 
loftiest  of  the  useful  arts,  was  nearly  lost  to  her  by  this 
stupid,  brutal  despotism,  which  failed  to  see  in  persecu- 
tion for  conscience'  sake  the  invasion  of  a  most  sacred 
and  inestimable  right,  —  a  right  essential  not  only  to 
moral  and  intellectual  health  and  growth,  but  even  to 
the  physical  and  social  well-being  of  civilized  man. 

For  the  last  few  years,  the  champions  of  Free  Trade 
have  asserted  and  attempted  to  demonstrate  an  actual 
superiority  in  the  essential  recompense  and  social  condi- 
tion of  the  Laboring  Class  of  Great  Britain  over  that  of 
their  brethren  in  this  country.  Statistics  in  abundance 
have  been  produced  and  figures  manipulated  with  the 
intent  of  proving  that  a  working-man's  wages  in  Eng- 
land will  procure  him  better  food,  clothing,  and  shelter, 
than  the  wages  of  his  American  counterpart  will  buy  in 
this  country.  "  You  can  do  anything  with  bayonets  but 
sit  on  them,"  says  a  pithy  apothegm ;  and  so  you  may 
do  anything  with  statistics  but  overbear  the  most  palpa- 
ble, indisputable  facts.  The  undeniable  truth  that  one 
hundred  persons  migrate  hither  from  the  British  isles 
and  colonies,  to  improve  their  condition  by  their  own  in- 
dustry, for  every  one  who,  with  like  intent,  migrates 
hence  to  those  isles,  brushes  away  the  cobwebs  of  sophis- 
try and  places  the  truth  beyond  contradiction. 

Vast   as  has  been  the  volume  of  migration  to  this 


IMMIGRATION.  321 

country  for  the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  it  has  mani- 
festly not  yet  reached  its  maximum.  The  building  of 
one  Pacific  Railroad  through  the  heart  of  our  country, 
soon  to  be  followed  by  others,  facilitates  and  invites  an 
immense  and  rapid  expansion  of  our  Mining  and  the 
subsidiary  pursuits,  thus  opening  new  and  eager  markets 
for  the  products  o/  the  farm,  the  workshop,  and  the  fac- 
tory. The  valleys  of  the  streams  issuing  from  either 
flank  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  but  more  especially  on 
this  side,  are  rapidly  filling  up  with  herdsmen  and  farm- 
ers, who  find,  in  the  mining  camps  of  the  adjacent  "foot- 
hills "  and  more  elevated  crests  and  ridges,  a  market  for 
nearly  every  edible  they  can  produce.  Recent  discover- 
ies of  boundless  coal-fields  in  Utah,  among  the  "  Black 
Hills  "  of  Wyoming,  beneath  the  valleys  and  plains  of 
Colorado,  with  an  abundance  of  the  ores  of  Iron  and  all 
the  baser  Metals,  presage  an  early  erection  of  furnaces 
and  works  for  the  reduction  of  various  ores  throughout 
the  rugged  interior  of  our  continent.  Cotton  is  now 
grown  with  profit  in  southern  Utah ;  the  young  vine- 
yards of  New-Mexico  promise  early  and  ample  harvests ; 
while  exploration  southward  from  Salt  Lake  and  White 
Pine  indicate  less  sterility  and  far  greater  natural  wealth 
throughout  the  wild  regions  tributary  to  the  great  Col- 
orado than  have  hitherto  been  accorded  them.  lu  spite 
of  many  failures  and  disappointments,  our  production  of 
Gold  and  Silver  must  be  far  ampler  ten  years  hence  than 
it  has  ever  been  yet.  Perhaps  no  such  enormous  depos- 
its of  Gold  already  mined  by  rivers  and  runnels,  working 
silently  and  unobservedly  throughout  so  many  past  ages, 
as  dazzled  the  vision  of  our  California  pioneers,  will  ever 
again  be  unearthed ;  for  I  know  no  other  region  whose 
streams,  plunging  swiftly  down  the  steep  face  of  a  high 
mountain-range,  have  worn  such  deep  gorges  and  concen- 
trated their  heavier  minerals  in  such  narrow  sand-beds ; 


322  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

but  barely  a  fraction  of  the  precious  metals  imbedded 
in  the  primitive  rocks  of  our  Pacific  slope  has  yet  been 
extracted,  while  enough  remains  undisturbed  to  pay  the 
public  debts  of  all  nations  without  a  sensible  diminution 
of  its  volume.  Illimitable  is  the  demand  for  Labor  to 
develop  this  measureless  wealth ;  and  every  man  actually 
engaged  in  Mining  requires  the  services  of  several  other 
men  as  producers  of  Machinery,  of  Food,  of  Fabrics,  to 
sustain  him  at  his  work  and  give  efficiency  to  his  efforts. 
Vainly  do  we  look  to  Europe  to  purchase  and  consume 
our  surplus  Food  :  her  markets  are  inevitably  capricious 
and  her  prices  unremunerative  :  but  with  our  Railroads 
traversing  Arizona,  Montana,  Idaho,  our  Mines  fully 
opened  and  worked,  our  Manufactories  supplying  our 
own  ever-expanding  wants,  and  our  People  uniting,  hand 
in  hand  and  eye  to  eye,  to  sustain  every  Home  interest 
and  develop  every  Home  resource,  a  new  era  in  National 
growth  will  be  opened,  and  our  Immigration  in  the  fu- 
ture wholly  eclipse  and  belittle  the  grandest  realizations 

of  the  past. 
t 

[NOTE.  —  Nothing  can  well  be  more  fallacious  than  the 
Free-Traders'  computations  of  the  number  of  persons  actu- 
ally employed  in  and  subsisted  by  our  Mining  and  Manufac- 
turing industry.  For  every  person  returned  in  the  Census 
as  making  Iron,  there  will  be  at  least  a  score  cutting  wood, 
burning  it  into  charcoal,  making  roads,  bridges,  &c.,  mining 
coal,  quarrying  limestone,  &c.,  &c.,  —  all  of  them  impelled, 
and  paid  so  to  do,  by  the  fact  that  the  furnaces  require  their 
labor,  or  its  product,  —  all,  in  verity,  engaged  in  making 
Iron.] 


SPECIFIC  —  AD   VALOREM  —  MINIMUM.         323 


XXIII. 
SPECIFIC— AD  VALOREM— MINIMUM. 

A  specific  duty  is  one  which  exacts  so  much  money 
per  yard,  per  pound,  per  ton,  on  the  importation  of  an 
article,  without  regard  to  fluctuations  in  the  value  or 
price  of  that  article.  An  ad  valorem  duty  exacts  such  a 
percentage  of  the  appraised,  sworn,  or  invoice,  value  of 
the  article  or  articles  imported.  A  minimum  is  estab- 
lished when  the  act  provides  that  all  Woollen  dress  cloths 
(for  instance)  which  are  invoiced,  appraised,  or  sworn,  to 
be  worth  or  to  have  cost  less  than  one  dollar  per  square 
yard,  shall  be  taken  and  deemed  to  have  cost  one  dollar 
per  square  yard,  and  charged  with  duty  accordingly. 

I  am  not  aware  that  the  minimum  principle  was  em- 
ployed in  framing  any  American  Tariff  prior  to  1816, 
when  Mr.  Lowndes  of  South  Carolina  proposed  that  all 
imported  Cotton  fabrics  invoiced  or  appraised  as  costing 
less  than  twenty-five  cents  per  square  yard  should  be 
taken  and  deemed  to  have  cost  that  sum,  and  charged 
with  duty  accordingly.  The  duty  on  Cqtton  fabrics 
being  fixed  at  twenty-five  per  cent.,  this  provision  raised 
the  impost  on  all  imported  Sheetings,  Shirtings,  Calicoes, 
&c.,  to  6^  cents  per  square  yard  at  the  lowest,  and  thus 
gave  to  our  infant  Cotton  manufacture  a  protection 
which  enabled  it  to  flourish  and  expand  throughout  the 
succeeding  years.  Indeed,  Mr.  Calhoun,  in  defending 
this  provision,  frankly  stated  that  its  object  was  to  place 
the  stability  and  gi-owth  of  that  manufacture  beyond 


324  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

contingency,  —  as  it  did.  For,  though  twenty-five  cents 
per  square  yard  may  have  been  a  fair  estimate  of  the 
average  value  of  Cotton  fabrics  when  that  Tariff  was 
framed,  yet  the  rapid  expansion  of  our  Cotton  culture, 
resulting  in  lower  and  yet  lower  prices  for  the  staple, 
paralleled  by  the  strides  continually  made  in  inventions 
which  rendered  more  effective  the  machinery  and  pro- 
cesses for  spinning  and  weaving  the  staple,  cheapening 
at  once  production  and  product,  ultimately  reduced  the 
price  of  many  common  but  serviceable  Cotton  fabrics  be- 
low ten  cents  per  square  yard  ;  so  that  the  duty,  though 
still  nominally  twenty-five  per  cent.,  was  more  efficiently 
Protective  than  would  have  been  one  of  one  hundred  per 
cent,  lacking  the  minimum. 

A  cardinal  objection  to  Ad  Valorem  duties,  upon  im- 
ported ai'ticles  which  compete  directly  and  depressingly 
with  the  products  of  our  own  industry,  is  this :  Such 
duties  must  always  be  lowest  when  they  should  be  highest, 
and  highest  when  the  need  of  them  is  least.  Let  us  sup- 
pose, for  illustration,  that  British  Pig  Iron  of  fair  quality 
can  be  sent  to  us  at  a  cost  of  £4,  or  $20  per  ton ;  and 
the  duty  is  thereupon  fixed  at  twenty-five  per  cent.,  mak- 
ing the  cost  in  this  city  of  the  British  Pig  $  25  (gold) 
per  ton ;  while  our  smelters  can  just  afford  to  make  it  at 
that  price.  But  the  British  product  is  put  down  to  $  15 
per  ton  ;  conseqiiently,  the  duty  falls  to  three-fourths  of 
its  former  amount,  reducing  the  price  of  British  Pig  in 
our  market  below  $  20  per  ton,  and  compelling  a  large 
proportion  of  our  furnaces  to  suspend  operations.  Should 
the  British  makers  decide  to  reduce,  for  a  time,  their 
prices  to  $  10  per  ton,  the  duty  would  fall  to  $  2£, 
making  the  total  cost  at  our  wharves  $  12^.  Laws  thus 
framed,  so  far  from  protecting  Home  Industry,  lie  in 
wait  to  ensnare  it  to  its  ruin. 

The  Iron-masters  of  Pennsylvania  assembled  at  Phil- 


SPECIFIC  —  AD   VALOREM  —  MINIMUM.          325 

adelphia  in  1849  to  petition  Congress  against  the  main- 
tenance of  the  Polk- Walker  ad  valorem  Tariff  of  1846. 
In  their  memorial,1  they  say  :  — 

"  When  the  price  of  iron  is  high  abroad,  the  duty  is  high  at 
home,  giving  to  the  American  manufacturer  an  incidental  pro- 
tection which  continues  so  long  as  the  market  remains  high ; 
but,  so  soon  as  the  foreign  market  fluctuates,  the  duty  falls  with 
it ;  so  that,  at  the  time  when  the  highest  duty  is  needed  to  ena- 
ble American  manufacturers  to  sustain  a  competition  with  the 
foreign  manufacturers,  the  protection  is  taken  away,  —  thus 
acting  as  a  sliding  scale  against  the  American  manufacturer. 
When  the  Tariff  act  of  1846  was  passed,  the  thirty  per  cent, 
duty  on  the  price  of  iron  at  Liverpool  ($  50)  was  $  15  per  ton ; 
the  cost  and  duty  added  made  the  price  $  65.  But,  for  the 
last  two  years,  the  price  has  fallen  from  §  50  to  $  27  per  ton, 
and  the  duty  from  $  15  to  §  8  per  ton,  making  the  cost  of  iron 
and  duty  $  35  per  ton,  —  a  fluctuation  of  $  30  per  ton.  To 
sustain  the  American  manufacturer,  he  requires  the  reverse 
of  the  operation  of  the  present  ad  valorem  duty.  When  the 
price  abroad  is  highest,  he  needs  the  least  duty,  and  when  it 
is  lowest  he  requires  the  highest." 

After  showing  that  the  American  production  of  Iron 
had  decidedly  increased  under  the  operation  of  the  Pro- 
tective Tariff  of  1842,  they  proceed  to  state  that 

"  The  fluctuations  in  prico  which  have  ensued  from  this 
large  production  have  been  of  late  years  so  great  as  to  cast  in 
the  shade  all  other  commercial  changes  of  price.  The  range 
•of  these  fluctuations  in  pig  iron  during  the  last  ten  years  is 
from  £  1  18  s.  to  £  5  12  s.  6  d.,  and  in  bar  iron,  from  £  4  10  s. 
to  $  13,  or  about  two  hundred  per  cent. 

"  In  one  extremity  of  this  fluctuation,  British  iron  becomes 
too  high  to  import  under  a  revenue  duty ;  in  the  other,  too 
low  to  admit  of  home  production.  In  the  one  extreme,  one 
cannot  afford  to  use  it ;  in  the  other,  it  paralyzes  our  efforts 
to  manufacture  for  ourselves. 

i  The  History  of  the  Iron  Trade  of  the  United  States.  By  B.  F. 
French.  New  York,  1858. 


326  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

"  The  legislation  asked  by  American  manufactures  deserves 
not  the  odium  so  frequently  heaped  upon  it.  We  know  that 
we  can  furnish  to  the  consumers  of  this  country  a  million  of 
tons  of  iron  cheaper  and  better  than  it  can  be  had  abroad. 
We  ask  for  defence  against  those  commercial  fluctuations 
which  occur  in  Great  Britain,  from  causes  wholly  originating 
there,  and  which,  while  they  thrust  down  the  prices  of  iron 
there  far  below  the  cost  of  making,  throw  large  and  irregular 
quantities  into  our  ports,  disturbing  the  regular  course  of  in- 
dustry here ;  breaking  down  our  markets,  and  carrying  ruin 
at  each  such  invasion  into  many  establishments.  If  we  ask 
aid  against  such  irregularities,  it  is  no  more  than  we  should 
be  obliged  to  do  if  the  manufacture  in  the  United  States  were 
as  greatly  developed  as  in  Great  Britain,  and  enjoying,  in  all 
respects,  equal  advantages.  If  that  were  the  case,  each  of  the 
equally  powerful  competitors  would  seek  to  relieve  their 
home  markets  in  seasons  of  depression,  by  thrusting  the  re- 
jected surplus  upon  his  rival ;  and  each  would  seize  the  op- 
portunity of  high  prices  in  the  other  to  make  large  exports, 
until  both  markets,  unable  to  maintain  any  high  prices  to 
compensate  for  unfavorable  periods,  would  sink  into  hopeless 
depression,  and  the  business  perish  or  be  greatly  impaired. 
Against  such  consequences,  both  would  -appeal  to  their  re- 
spective governments  for  protection,  not  for  monopoly,  —  for 
that  security  against  ruinous  fluctuations,  and  that  regularity 
in  sales  indispensable  to  the  success  of  industry.  Competi- 
tors at.  home  can  observe  their  mutual  progress,  and  take 
their  measures  of  defence  in  time ;  but  that  competition  which 
comes  from  abroad  cannot  be  watched,  nor  preparations  made 
for  its  sudden  inroads.  If  the  British  manufacturer  is  pre- 
vented from  flooding  our  markets  at  less  than  the  average 
price  upon  which  his  business  thrives,  a  mere  revenue  duty 
will  be  ample  protection  against  tie  great  advantage  he  en- 
joys, of  employing  labor  at  less  than  half  the  cost  paid  in  the 
United  States." 

As  to  the  effect  of  Protection  on  prices,  a  forcible  state- 
ment was  made  by  the  Committee  on  Iron  of  the  friends 
of  Domestic  Industry  at  their  Convention  held  in  this 
City  in  November,  1831.  They  say  :  — 


SPECIFIC  —  AD   VALOREM  —  MINIMUM.          327 

"  The  average  price  of  bar  iron  in  1828  was  $  118£.  In  that 
year,  an  addition  to  the  duty  on  hammered  iron  was  made  of 
$  4.40  per  ton,  and  on  rolled  of  $  7.  In  the  following  year, 
the  price  fell  to  $114f,  and  in  1830  to  $96|;  showing  a 
decline  in  two  years  of  $21f  per  ton  in  face  of  the  in- 
creased duty  above  mentioned ;  a  decline  effected  exclusively 
by  domestic  competition,  inasmuch  as  no  corresponding  de- 
cline took  place  abroad,  and  the  fall  here  was  greatest  in  those 
markets  which  are  inaccessible  to  foreign  iron." 

It  is  remarkable  that  our  Free-Traders,  who  harp  so 
constantly  on  the  practice  and  experience  of  other  civil- 
ized nations  as  approving  or  confirming  their  theories, 
rarely  or  never  allude  to  the  strong  preference  of  nearly 
all  Europe  for  specific  duties.  The  Zoll-Verein  of  Ger- 
many taxes  nearly  or  quite  every  import  by  weight,  — 
so  much,  per  pound,  per  cwt.,  per  ton,  —  and  this  basis 
of  taxation  is  very  generally  preferred  for  its  honesty,  its 
simplicity,  and  its  inflexibility.  In  an  inquiry  made  in 
1840  by  a  Select  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
whereof  that  eminent  Free-Trader,  Joseph  Hume,  was 
Chairman,  Dr.  John  Bowring  (also  a  decided  Free-Trader) 
testified l  as  follows  :  — 

"  Question  831.  —  What  manufactures  have  made  and  are 
making  most  progress  in  Germany  ?  Answer.  —  Certainly, 
those  which  have  grown  up  spontaneously,  without  any  pro- 
tection. 

"  Q.  832.  —  What  are  they  ?  A.  —  The  hosiery  trade  is  the 
most  remarkable.  I  believe  at  this  moment  the  cotton- 
frames  of  Saxony  are  equal  to,  if  they  do  not  exceed  in  num- 
ber, those  of  this  country.  The  manufactures  which  are  suf- 
fering most  in  Saxony  are  the  manufactures  of  modern  in- 
troduction, particularly  their  spinning  factories,  which  have 
grown  up  since  the  introduction  of  the  Prussian  tariff. 

"  Q.  833.  —  Then  do  you  consider  the  Prussian  tariff  a  Pro- 

l  Report  of  the  Select  Committee  on  Import  Duties,  together  with 
the  Minutes  of  Evidence :  Ordered  by  the  House  of  Commons  to  be 
printed.  August  6,  1840. 


328  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

tective  tariff  to  manufacturers  ?  A.  —  Protective  to  a  certain 
extent. 

"  Q.  834.  —  What  is  the  principle  on  which  the  German 
commercial  tariff  is  founded  ?  A.  —  As  respects  manufac- 
tures, it  was  intended  that  the  maximum  duty  should  be  ten 
per  cent. ;  but  effect  has  not  been  given  to  that  intention ;  for, 
on  a  great  number  of  articles,  the  duty  is  from  sixty  to  one 
hundred  per  cent. 

"  Q.  835.  —  Has  that  been  in  consequence  of  taking  the  duty 
by  weight?  A. — Yes.  The  finer  articles  pay  a  duty  not 
exceeding  ten  per  cent. ;  but  the  duty  on  the  coarser  articles 
is  very  high,  and  really  prohibitory. 

"  Q.  836.  —  Is  not  that  operation  greatly  against  British 
commerce?  A.  —  Decidedly.  This  system  of  taking  duty 
by  weight  was  recognized  by  Mr.  Huskisson  in  1826,  with, 
reference  to  silk ;  and  it  is  notorious  that,  while  it  was  the 
intention  of  Parliament  to  levy  only  thirty  per  cent.,  there  are 
a  great  many  cases  in  which  fifty  or  sixty  are  levied  under  our 
tariff;  we  have  introduced  a  standard  of  value  with  a  standard 
of  weight,  and  the  complication  has  thwarted  the  purposes 
of  the  law.  The  result  of  this  has  been  that,  while  the  inten- 
tion of  Parliament  was  only  to  raise  thirty  per  cent,  fifty  and 
sixty  are  occasionally  taken  upon  silk  goods  from  Germany, 
and  France,  and  Switzerland." 

I  call  the  especial  attention  to  this  testimony  of  the 
Free  Trade  essayists  who  are  accustomed  to  assert  that 
the  duties  imposed  by  the  Zoll-Verein  are  limited  to 
ten  per  cent.  Dr.  Bowring  had  just  made  a  careful 
scrutiny  oh  the  spot  of  the  provisions  and  operation  of 
the  Zoll-Verein,  and  spoke  from  thorough  knowledge. 

To  similar  effect,  Mr.  John  Dillon,  also  an  intense 
Free-Trader,  of  the  Silk  house  of  Morrison,  Dillon  &  Co., 
London,  testified  as  follows  :  — 

"  Question  2,936.  —  Would  you  levy  duties  by  weight  or  ad 
valorem  ?  Answer.  —  That  is  a  very  difficult  question ;  there 
are  strong  objections  to  both  modes.  The  fairest  mode,  theo- 
retically, is  upon  the  value  ;  but  to  that  very  great  practical 
abjections  lie.  It  is  exposed  to  evasion,  and  is  constantly 


SPECIFIC  —  AD   VALOREM  —  MINIMUM.          329 

evaded.  It  is  admitted  almost  by  all,  and  few  attempt  to  deny, 
that,  when  they  make  returns  of  value,  they  make  false  re- 
turns ;  it  is  done  in  the  most  open,  undisguised  manner 

Aware  of  these  evasions,  the  Government  have  chosen,  having 
the  option  of  two  modes,  generally  to  charge  by  weight.  To 
that  mode,  there  are  these  objections :  that  the  parties  who, 
from  greater  capital  or  talent,  are  enabled  to  buy  abroad 
cheaper,  pay  a  higher  rate  of  duty  per  cent,  upon  the  cost- 
price  than  those  who  buy  badly ;  and  that,  when  the  duty  is  so 
high  as  thirty  per  cent.,  makes  a  serious  difference.  Still,  upon 
the  whole,  I  think  the  best  plan  for  the  legislature  to  adopt 
is  to  levy  the  duty  by  weight;  not  that  I  think  there  are  no 
objections  to  that  mode,  but  because,  in  the  choice  of  evils, 
that  is  the  least," 

Mr.  Dillon  seems  to  think  that,  where  one  importer 
has  bought  his  goods  twenty-five  per  cent,  cheaper  than 
a  rival,  he  ought  to  pay  twenty-five  per  cent,  less  duty 
on  them,  —  an  opinion  which  I  do  not  share. 


Early  in  the  last  session  of  the  Thirtieth  Congress,  the 
Hon.  James  Thompson  (a  Democrat  of  the  Pennsylvania 
variety)  was  enlightening  the  House,1  after  the  fashion 
of  his  kind,  on  the  subject  of  the  Tariff,  —  trying  hard 
to  steer  midway  between  Revenue  and  Protection,  —  de- 
nouncing in  one  breath  the  Tariff  of  1842  and  that  of 
1846,  —  and  saying  :  — 

"  Now,  Sir,  what  is  the  remedy  for  all  this  ?  It  is  plain. 
Specific  duties,  —  moderate  specific  duties,  —  moderate,  not 
inconsistent  with  revenue.  Take  Iron  (Pig)  as  an  example: 
fix  a  price  for  it,  —  say  $  20  or  $  25  per  ton,  —  calculate 
it  at  $  20,  if  you  please :  say  thirty  per  cent,  on  this  valua- 
tion ;  this  would  be  six  dollars.  Now,  Sir,  when  it  would 
become  abundant  abroad,  and  should  come  in  at  nine  dol- 
lars, (the  valuation  per  ton,)  you  would  still  get  your  six 
dollars  on  the  ton ;  and  the  more  that  should  come  in,  (the 
evidence  of  superabundance  and  want  of  market  abroad,)  the 

1  December  19, 1848.    See  Congressional  Globe,  p.  64. 


330  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

more  revenue  there  would  accrue  to  the  country.  Let  this 
be  the  system  in  regard  to  the  great  articles  of  manufacture 
and  produce  of  the  country.  Specific  duties  would  give  sta- 
bility. Our  affairs  would  not  be  made  to  fluctuate,  nor  our 
revenue  either. 

"  Mr.  C.  J.  INGERSOLL,  of  Pennsylvania,  inquired  if  his  col- 
league did  not  consider  specific  duties  necessary  on  Liquors, 
Wines,  and  Brandies. 

"  Mr.  THOMPSON.  —  I  do  not  know.  I  cannot  answer.  I  do 
not  deal  in  those  articles. 

"  Mr.  INGERSOLL.  —  You  will,  if  you  consider  the  interest  of 
the  country. 

"  Mr.  THOMPSON..  —  I  cannot  charge  my  colleague  —  for 
whom  I  have  the  highest  regard  —  with  any  want  of  consis- 
tency, not  in  the  least.  But  it  seems  to  be  within  my  recol- 
lection that  my  colleague,  at  the  last  session  of  Congress, 
proposed  a  reduction  of  the  duties  on  Liquors  to  fifteen  per 
cent. 

"  Mr.  INGERSOLL.  —  I  proposed  it ;  for  there  ought,  no  doubt, 
to  be  a  reduction ;  but  it  ought  to  be  a  reduction  to  Specific 
Duties :  they  are  a  good  deal  better  than  your  Ad  Valorems. 

"  Mr.  THOMPSON.  —  I  am  opposed  to  Ad  Valorems,  as  uni- 
versally applied.  I  think  it  a  mistaken  policy  in  every  point 
of  view.  I  am.  in  favor  of  reasonable  Specific  Duties,  and  op- 
posed to  Minimums. 

"  Mr.  GREELEY  of  New  York.  —  Will  the  gentleman  from 
Pennsylvania  be  good  enough  to  tell  us  how  we  can  have 
Specific  Duties  without  minimums  ? 

"Mr.  THOMPSON. — I  think  there  is  a  difference  between 
them ;  so  thought  the  framers  of  the  Tariff  of  1842.  They 
fixed  by  law  an  artificial  value,  without  any  regard  to  the  real 
value,  and  assessed  a  duty  equal  to  the  whole  value  in  some 
cases,  without  any  regard  to  supply,  demand,  market,  or  any- 
thing else. 

;'  VOICES.  —  You  are  wrong. 

"  Mr.  THOMPSON.  —  I  am  not  wrong,  I  think.  The  Tariff  of 
1842  contained  Specific  Duties,  and  Minimums,  not  as  a  con- 
sequence of  Specific  Duties,  but  as  a  consequence  of  the  Ad 
Valorem  system.  Without  critically  inquiring  into  the  mat- 
ter, I  have  not  taken  the  terms  as  convertible.  At  all  events, 


SPECIFIC  —  AD   VALOREM  —  MINIMUM.          331 

these  Minimums,  to  a  greater  extent  than  anything  else,  over- 
threw the  Tariff  of  1842." 

The  above  is,  I  judge,  not  much  more  muddled  than 
the  average  of  Congressional  disquisitions  on  the  various 
and  important  practical  questions  which  must  be  de- 
cided in  framing  or  revising  a  tariff.  Judge  Thompson 
was  anxioxis  to  sail  between  wind  and  water,  —  to  favor 
such  Protection  as  was  obviously  required  by  and  con- 
ducive to  the  well-being  of  Pennsylvania,  and  ty  oppose 
or  ignore  all  other.  Now  a  Specific  impost  is  especially 
applicable  to  Iron,  the  Pennsylvania  staple,  while'  Amer- 
ican Textile  Fabrics  were  then  almost  confined  to  New 
England,  where  the  larger  part  of  them  are  probably 
still  produced.  The  only  possible  way  of  avoiding  or 
modifying  the  application  to  these  of  Ad  Valorem 
duties,  unless  we  adopt  the  Zoll-Verein  method  of  put- 
ting all  Woollens  into  the  scales,  and  charging  as  much 
per  pound  (and  thus  a  good  deal  more  per  yard)  on 
superfine  Broadcloths  as  on  the  coarsest  Blankets  or 
Carpets,  is  by  a  resort  to  the  Minimum  principle  as 
above  illustrated.  This  allows  duties  to  be  adjusted 
with  very  considerable  regard  to  the  value  of  the  respec- 
tive articles  imported,  yet  interpose  a  decided  obstacle 
to  the  importation  of  cheap,  showy,  worthless  goods  on 
the  payment  of  merely  nominal  duties.  In  other 
words  :  a  Minimum  is  a  device  for  rendering*  Ad  Va- 
lorem duties  as  nearly  Specific  as  the  nature  of  the  ar- 
ticle taxed  will  allow. 

A  correspondent  of  The  Times  (London)  writing1 
from  Manchester  in  the  interest  of  the  manufacturers 
and  exporters  of  that  city,  explains  the  existing  depres- 
sion of  the  Cotton  manufacture  by  the  failure  of  the 
sanguine  expectations  formerly  entertained  of  a  large 

1  Published  September  27, 1869. 


332  POLITICAL   ECONOMY. 

demand  for  British  fabrics  in  France,  through  the  oper- 
ation of  the  Cobden-Chevalier  treaty.  The  writer  vin- 
dicates the  British  negotiators  of  that  treaty  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

"  In  the  first  place,  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  start- 
ing-point of  Mr.  Cobden,  in  the  inculcation  of  Free  Trade  prin- 
ciples in  France,  was  simply  a  promise  from  the  Government 
of  that  country  that,  in  any  treaty  that  might  be  agreed  upon, 
the  duties  on  British  manufactures  should  not  exceed  30  per 
cent. ;  and,  in  criticising  the  labors  of  those  who  arranged  the 
details  of  the  treaty,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  any  con- 
cessions from  this  stand-point  were  absolutely  wrung  from 
French  officials  thoroughly  imbued  with  a  spirit  of  Protection- 
ism, or  sworn  to  the  interests  of  French  manufacturers.  It 
has  often  been  laid  to  the  charge  of  the  gentlemen  who  repre- 
sented the  English  manufacturers  that  their  mission  was  inef- 
ficiently performed,  and  that  the  representatives  of  French 
industry  succeeded  in  stealing  a  march  on  them,  and  in  gain- 
ing a  decided  advantage  for  their  own  manufactures.  In 
answer  to  this,  the  English  delegates  reply  that  a  very  few 
days'  negotiation  served  to  convince  them  that  they  had  un- 
dertaken a  conflict  with  the  prejudices  of  men  who  looked 
with  the  utmost  jealousy  on  foreign  competition,  and  by 
whom  the  principles  of  Free  Trade  were  hardly  understood,  or, 
at  any  rate,  but  imperfectly  appreciated.  A  hard  struggle  of 
many  days  for  the  admission  of  an  ad  valorem  principle  ended 
in  a  complete  refusal  on  the  part  of  the  French ;  and,  finally, 
the  present  most  unsatisfactory  Tariff  was  submitted  to  in 
the  way  of  '  Hobson's  choice,'  but  certainly  not  as  the  em- 
bodiment of  what  the  English  representatives  considered 

either  just  or  desirable The  thin  end  only  of  the  wedge 

could,  however,  be  inserted ;  and  it  was  hoped  that  such 
commercial  results  as  the  treaty  might  produce,  added  to  the 
hoped-for  weakening  of  Protectionist  feeling  in  France,  might, 
in  future  negotiations,  influence  the  adoption  of  a  scale  of  du- 
ties more  likely  to  create  a  market  for  the  productions  of  this 
country.  In  consequence  of  the  specific  character  of  the  pres- 
ent Tariff,  the  most  favorable  time  for  the  English  exporter 
of  cotton  goods  must  be  when  prices  rule  highest,  inasmuch 


SPECIFIC  —  AD   VALOREM  —  MINIMUM.          333 

as  the  duty  then  bears  the  smallest  relation  to  their  value ; 
and  thus  it  is  that  our  largest  exports  to  France  were  made 
during  the  American  war,  when  the  value  of  cotton  goods 
was  unusually  inflated,  and  when  the  duty  amounted  only  to 
from  7-g  to  10  per  cent.  With  a  decline  in  prices  came  a  de- 
cline in  the  consumption  of  English  goods  in  France ;  and  so 
small  has  the  trade  now  become  that  it  exists  only  in  name, 
and  the  few  houses  which  in  this  country  attempt  to  maintain 
it  can  only  do  so  by  narrowly  watching  the  fluctuations  of  the 
respective  markets,  or  by  limiting  their  operations  to  those 

fabrics  to  which  the  Tariff  gives  the  highest  preference 

The  following  figures  will  shpw  the  high  rate  at  which  the 
duties  now  stand,  and  they  also  suggest  the  improbability 
of  any  future  fluctuations  in  the  value  of  cotton,  placing  the 
trade  in  a  more  advantageous  position.  Average  duty  on  all 
classes  during  the  American  war  (say,  cotton  at  2s.  per 
pound),  about  10  per  cent.  Average  duty  at  the  same  time 
on  the  sorts  of  goods  most  exported,  about  8  per  cent.  Aver- 
age duty  on  all  classes  at  to-day's  prices  for  goods,  about  16 
per  cent.  Average  on  all  sorts  of  goods  at  the  probable  fu- 
ture ruling  value  (say,  cotton  at  8  d.  per  pound),  about  20  per 
cent.  Average  on  sorts  most  exported  at  future  ruling  prices, 
about  IT  per  cent.  It  is  natural  that  the  exporter  should 
select  for  shipment  those  articles  to  which  the  duty  is  most 
favorable ;  but  it  thus  appears  that,  even  on  those  sorts,  he 
cannot  escape  a  duty  averaging  about  17  per  cent.  Next  in 
objection  to  the  high  character  of  the  tariff  comes  the  erratic 
and  almost  inexplicable  application.  To  make  this  appar- 
ent, one  has  only  to  refer  to  the  fact  that,  for  purposes  of 
taxation,  cotton  fabrics  are  grouped  in  three  classes,  distin- 
guished by  the  width  and  weight  of  the  various  cloths.  These 
groups  are  again  subjected  to  subdivisions,  distinguished  by 
the  number  of  threads  in  the  square  inch ;  making  in  all,  for 
plain  goods  alone,  nine  separate  standards  of  tariff,  each  of 
which  must  be  laboriously  groped  out  by  the  custom-house 
officers  with  measure,  scales,  and  whaling-glass.  Such  au 
utterly  illogical  method  of  fixing  duties  leads  to  the  most 
absurd  inconsistencies  in  their  application ;  and  we  thus  find 
the  ingenuity  of  the  exporter  stimulated  to  the  utmost  in  order 
to  pass  his  highly  taxed  fabrics  under  a  loiver  classification  than 


334  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

is  assigned  to  them  ;  in  fact,  the  issue  of  his  business  often  de- 
pends on  the  success  or  otherwise  of  this  deception." 

I  have  printed  so  much  of  this  letter  as  serves  to  show 
the  influence  and  working  of  Ad  Valorem  and  Specific 
duties  respectively.  The  writer  —  who  takes  throughout 
what  I  may  distinguish  as  the  bagman's  view  of  the 
whole  matter  —  of  course  thinks  a  low  Ad  Valorem  duty 
just  what  is  wanted  to  restore  the  markets  of  France 
to  the  looms  of  Manchester,  —  which,  to  his  mind,  is 
the  great  end  to  be  achieved.  He  insists  that  there 
is  little  difference  between  •  the  cost  of  making  cotton 
fabrics  in  the  two  countries,  harps  on  the  stupid  preju- 
dice of  Frenchmen  against  buying  from  England  fabrics 
which  they  can  easily  make  at  home,  and  makes  out,  to 
the  satisfaction,  doubtless,  of  the  owners  of  British  spin- 
ning and  weaving  machinery,  that  the  French  should  be 
induced  to  abandon  the  treaty  arrangement  and  substi- 
tute for  it  a  ten  per  cent.  Ad  Valorem  duty ;  but  I  can- 
not glean  from  his  statement  that  any  benefit  is  likely 
to  result  to  the  French  from  an  adoption  of  his  policy  ; 
wherefore,  I  conclude  that  it  is  not  very  likely  to  pre- 
vail. Evidently  the  French  "  don't  see  it." 

The  above  illustrations  suffice,  I  judge,  to  elucidate 
the  nature  and  radical  differences  of  the  rival  modes  of 
imposing  or  estimating  Duties  on  Imports.  My  own 
judgment  decidedly  favors  the  making  (by  means  of 
Minimums  where  the  end  can  no  otherwise  be  attained) 
of  every  duty  Specific,  to  the  utmost  possible  extent. 
Unlike  Mr.  Dillon,  I  consider  the  fact  that  an  importer 
has  bought  (or  made)  his  goods  twenty  per  cent,  cheaper 
than  another  can  buy  them,  no  reason  whatever  why  he 
should  pay  twenty  per  cent,  less  duty  on  their  importa- 
tion. I  hold  it  a  requirement  of  honest  trade  as  well  as 
honest  industry  that  one  man's  imports  should  pay  the 


SPECIFIC — AD   VALOREM  —  MINIMUM.  335 

same  as  another's,  and  I  repel  the  suggestion  that  Spe- 
cific Duties  bear  heaviest  on  the  poor,  because  they  pur- 
chase inferior  goods.  If  it  be  the  fact  that  the  poor 
buy  poor  goods,  I  find  in  that  fact  an  explanation  of 
their  poverty,  —  a  cause  as  well  as  a  consequence.  If 
they  do  not  comprehend  that  thoroughly  good  fabrics 
are  cheaper  than  poor,  —  that  a  poor  man's  wife  or  daugh- 
ter may  wisely  prefer  for  her  dress  an  excellent  Gingham 
or  De  Laine  to  a  flimsy,  shabby  Silk,  —  their  knowledge 
should  be  extended  and  their  taste  improved.  In  my 
view7,  it  is  a  weighty  recommendation  of  Specific  Duties 
that  they  inevitably  and  strongly  tend  to  prevent  the 
importation  of  inferior  and  worthless  goods,  by  taxing 
them  as  high  per  yard  or  per  pound  as  the  excellent 
wares  and  fabrics  which  they,  outwardly  resembling, 
follow  afar  off,  and  would  fain  be  mistaken  for.  If  the 
day  shall  be  hastened  by  Specific  Duties,  in  which  no 
one  can  afford  to  import  any  other  than  a  thoroughly 
good  article  of  its  kind,  I  shall  hail  it  as  a  foretaste  of 
the  Millennium. 

[XOTE.  —  By  the  Tariff  of  1842,  all  imported  Wines  were 
charged  moderate  but  Specific  Duties.  The  Walker  Tariff,  of 
1846,  upset  all  this,  admitting  every  description  of  Wine  at 
an  Ad  Valorem  duty  of  forty  per  cent.  Hon.  Thomas  Cor- 
win,  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  reported  to  Congress  in 
1850,  that  the  same  description  of  Wines  were  invoiced,  un- 
der the  latter  of  these  Tariffs,  but  little  more  than  one  third 
the  prices  at  which  they  were  entered  under  ths  former, 
which  afforded  no  inducement  to  under  valuation.] 


336  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 


XXIV. 
CONCLUSIONS. 

I  HAVE  hitherto  presented  at  some  length  the  consid- 
erations which  seem  to  me  to  render  the  maintenance  of 
a  Protective  Tariff  expedient  and  beneficent.  I  have 
contemplated  more  directly  the  case  of  our  own  country, 
because  of  my  special  interest  in  her  welfare,  and  be- 
cause 1  am  more  familiar  with  the  essential  facts  in  her 
case  than  I  am  with  the  corresponding  facts  in  the  his- 
tory, resources  and  position,  of  any  other  people.  Wheth- 
er it  might  or  might  not  be  well  for  Great  Britain  to 
have  all  the  Ore  that  is  dug,  and  all  the  Cotton,  Wool, 
Flax,  Hemp,  &c.,  that  are  grown  on  the  globe  shipped  to 
her  ports,  utilized  in  her  furnaces  and  factories,  and  sent 
abroad  for  sale  in  a  manufactured  form,  I  have  not  so 
closely  studied,  and  do  not  decide ;  yet  I  am  sure  that 
it  would  not  be  best  for  the  Laboring  Class  generally, 
and  I  doubt  that  it  would  be  best  for  that  portion  of  the 
British  people  in  particular.  For  I  cannot  shut  my  eyes 
to  the  truth  that,  other  things  being  equal,  the  farther 
a  staple  is  transported  from  its  producers  for  fabrication, 
the  larger  is  the  percentage  of  its  value  which  must  be 
abstracted  from  the  proceeds  to  pay  the  cost  of  such 
transportation ;  and  this  percentage  must  be  deducted 
from  the  avails  accruing  to  Labor.  If  we  send  Apples 
to  Havana  in  order  to  buy  Cuban  Oranges  with  the  pro- 
ceeds, we  should  be  very  unreasonable  were  we  to  expect 
to  receive  so  many  Apples  for  each  bushel  or  barrel  of 
Oranges  as  the  Cuban  consumers  gave  for  them  ;  and 
so  with  everything  exported  and  impoi'ted.  We  should 


CONCLUSIONS.  337 

be  reconciled  to  receiving  fewer  Oranges  than  the  num- 
ber of  Apples  we  sent,  by  the  Consideration  that  Oranges 
grow  luxuriantly  in  Cuba  and  are  grown  with  difficulty 
or  not  at  all  here  ;  and,  so  far  as  contrasted  peculiarities 
of  soil  or  climate  dictate  such  exchanges,  they  are  abun- 
dantly justified.  But  the  case  is  entirely  different  with 
regard  to  Satinets  or  Sheetings,  Nails  or  Needles,  which 
may  be  made  nearly  or  quite  as  well  (that  is,  with  as 
little  labor)  in  one  country  as  another.  Show  me  that 
our  country  lacks  the  raw  material  or  other  natural 
facilities  for  producing  any  or  all  of  these,  and  I  will 
agree  that  she  should  not  make  the  attempt ;  but,  if  the 
reason  urged  for  not  attempting  it  be  the  greater  aggre- 
gation of  capital,  machinery,  skill,  &c.,  which  a  thousand 
years'  effort  and  experience  have  achieved  for  a  rival 
nation,  while  these  have  been  denied  to  or  not  yet  at- 
tained by  us,  then  1  hold  that  a  fallacious  reason,  which 
ought  to  be  overruled  and  rejected.  If  we  lack  experi- 
ence, 'let  us  acquire  it ;  if  our  inferiority  inheres  in 
unopened  mines  and  unbuilt  railroads,  factories,  or  fur- 
naces, let  us  provide  whatever  we  lack,  and  thus  qualify 
ourselves  for  supplying  our  own  wants  under  every  pos- 
sible advantage.  The  reasons  which  dictate  abstinence 
from  any  effort  on  our  part  to  grow  Coffee  or  Cinnamon, 
Cloves  or  Cacao,  have  no  existence  or  no  application 
when  we  contemplate  the  production  or  fabrication  of 
Plaids  or  Cassimeres,  Gloves  or  Ginghams,  which  may 
be  produced  with  as  little  labor  here  as  elsewhere. 

A  true  Political  Economy,  in  my  conception,  regards 
with  especial  interest  and  favor  the  producers  and  pro- 
duction of  wealth.  If  there  be  a  community  of  ten 
thousand  persons  whereof  one-half  are  of  fit  age  to  earn 
something,  it  dislikes  to  see  half  this  productive  force 
dissipated  in  subsidiary  and  non-productive  employments, 
such  as  the  various  departments  of  transportation  and 
15  v 


338  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

traffic.  It  does  not  blindly,  sweepingly  condemn  Trade 
as  useless  and  unprofitable  to  the  community ;  for  it  rec- 
ognizes the  beneficence  of  a  diversity  of  pursuits,  and 
knows  that  the  efficiency  of  Labor  is  thereby  promoted ; 
it  realizes  that,  where  each  labors  only  in  that  vocation 
for  which  he  is  best  fitted  by  skill  and  experience,  ex- 
changes of  products  are  inevitable ;  and  that  these  fall 
naturally,  if  not  necessarily,  into  the  hands  of  a  class 
devoted  to  and  presumptively  qualified  to  effect  them 
Avith  celerity,  economy,  and  substantial  justice.  But 
Commerce  should  be  the  servant,  not  the  master,  of  In- 
dustry, which  is  better  served,  and  at  far  less  cost,  where 
the  exchangers  are  few  and  the  exchanges  direct  and 
simple,  than  where  they  are  needlessly  complicated  and 
absorb  a  large  share  of  the  ability  and  force  of  a  com- 
munity. Doubtless,  if  all  our  Clothing  as  well  as  our 
Cloths  were  fabricated  in  Europe,  we  should  have  a 
larger  and  (for  a  time)  more  nourishing  Commerce  than 
we  now  have,  with  more  persons  living  and  making  for- 
tunes by  Trade ;  but  the  dividend  to  Labor  from  the 
aggregate  product  of  our  National  Industry  must  be  pro- 
portionally and  absolutely  less  than  it  now  is,  while  the 
proportion  of  our  people  who  could  find  no  work  would 
be  far  greater.  Unless  Europe  could  make  our  Clothes 
for  us  in  half  the  time  required  to  make  them  here,  — 
which  she  certainly  could  not,  —  there  would  be  a  loss 
to  us  and  a  loss  to  mankind  of  the  cost  of  sending  our 
Wheat,  Wool,  Cotton,  Cheese,  Meat,  &c.,  &c.,  thither 
to  pay  for  our  Clothes  and  bringing  over  those  Clothes 
and  diffusing  them  throughout  our  country ;  and  this 
loss  would  by  no  means  be  limited  to  the  heavy  cost  of 
transportation  both  ways,  but  would  be  swelled  im- 
mensely by  the  hazards  of  shipwreck,  fire,  and  damage 
during  transit,  as  well  as  by  the  charges  and  profits  of 
those  through  whom  the  exchanges  were  effected. 


CONCLUSIONS.  339 

"  Then,"  says  a  Free-Trader,  "  those  exchanges,  prov- 
ing unprofitable,  would  be  superseded,  and  cease." 

4<  Unprofitable,"  to  whom  ?  Not  to  the  exchangers, 
who,  having  all  the  clews  in  their  hands,  would  be  liv- 
ing and  generally  prospering  by  their  business,  and 
would  be  very  likely  to  make  efforts  and  sacrifices  to 
subvert  any  rivalry  that  threatened  to  supplant  them. 
And  their  command  of  capital,  experience,  skill,  and  th^ 
channels  of  trade,  would  give  them  a  very  great  advan- 
tage over  any  rash  adventurer  who  should  attempt  to 
rival  them  by  making  Clothes  on  our  own  soil.  In- 
evitably, those  who  had  long  enjoyed  the  profits  of 
Clothes-making  would  display  more  elegant,  attractive, 
and  even  cheaper  garments  than  their  raw  competitors, 
and  triumphantly  ask  the  public  to  decide  whether  the 
labor  which  produced  the  Wheat,  Cotton,  Wool,  To- 
bacco, &c.,  wherewith  their  goods  were  paid  for,  was  not 
as  truly  American  as  that  of  the  botches  and  extortion- 
ers who  impudently  besought  our  people  to  buy  clumsy, 
ill-made,  unsightly,  misfitting  garments  at  exorbitant 
prices,  under  the  absurd  pretence  that  they  would 
thereby  encourage  Home  Industry. 

There  are  men  as  well  as  women  in  this  country  who 
now  have  their  garments  mainly  made  in  Europe  ;  and, 
if  they  honestly  pay  the  duties  charged  on  their  impor- 
tation, I  make  no  objection.  They  help  to  defray  the 
heavy  burden  of  our  Public  Debt ;  and  they  do  not  ma- 
terially depress  the  'wages  of  labor.  If  we  had  never  im- 
posed a  tax  on  such  importation,  there  would  be  twenty 
garments  imported  where  one  is  now,  and  the  art  of 
making  elegant,  fashionable  Clothing  would  not  have  ad- 
vanced among  us  nearly  so  far  as  it  has  done.  Now  let 
us  suppose  that  in  such  case  an  American,  deprecating 
such  importation  of  our  more  costly  and  elegant  Cloth- 
ing as  prejudicial  to  the  National  well-being,  should  re- 


340  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

solve  to  have  all  his  own  clothes  made  in  this  country, 
what  would  he  thereby  effect  1  The  price  of  his  pro- 
duce would  remain  at  the  low  level  induced  by  our  ne- 
cessity of  exporting  enormously  and  glutting  the  mar- 
kets of  Europe  in  order  to  pay  for  our  Clothes  and  other 
imports,  and  he  must  be  content  with  such  garments 
as  the  rude  and  low  estate  of  the  Clothes-making  art 
among  us  enabled  us  to  produce,  and  at  such  prices 
would  naturally  result.  But  let  us  resolve  and  enact  as 
a  people  that  we  will  henceforth  encourage  and  favor  as 
Clothes-making  on  our  own  soil  by  taxing  the  importa- 
tion of  foreign-made  Clothes,  and  the  case  would  be 
bravely  altered.  First-rate  tailors  and  milliners  would 
be  thereby  incited  to  settle  among  us,  bringing  hither 
their  capital,  skill,  and  experience  ;  our  own  clothes- 
makers,  having  a  larger  and  steadier  demand  for  their 
products,  would  be  enabled  and  impelled  to  extend 
their  operations  and  thus  cheapen  their  products ;  the 
expansion  and  stability  thus  given  to  American  Clothes- 
making  would  create  or  insure  larger  and  better  home 
markets  for  our  Food,  Wool,  Cotton,  &c.  ;  and  thus  the 
beneficent  results  vainly  sought  through  spasmodic, 
isolated,  individual  effort,  would  be  readily  and  fully  se- 
cured through  that  Protection  which  is  another  name 
for  National  Cooperation  to  diminish  the  proportion  of 
exchangers  or  traffickers,  and  increase  that  of  effective 
producers  of  wealth.  The  difference  is  the  same  as  that 
between  constructing  frhe  Erie  Canal  upon  the  resources 
and  credit  of  the  State,  and  attempting  to  construct  it 
by  inducing  every  one  to  dig  out  so  much  of  the  bed  as 
traversed  his  own  farm  or  wood-lot. 

Let  me  further  elucidate  my  difference  with  the  Free- 
Traders  by  an  incident  that  seems  to  me  to  show  that 
their  idea  of  cheapness  is  mole-eyed  and  delusive.  A 
citizen  of  North  Canaan,  Connecticut,  had  always  op- 


CONCLUSIONS.  341 

posed  Protection  as  calculated  to  enrich  the  manufac- 
turer at  the  expense  of  his  own  class  (the  farmers), 
prior  to  1842,  when  he  contracted  for  clearing  one  hun- 
dred acres  of  his  woodland  at  $  10  per  acre  in  addition 
to  what  could  be  made  of  the  wood.  Before  this  job 
was  completed,  the  Tariff  of  that  year  was  passed ;  and 
now  a  furnace  was  put  into  blast  and  the  production  of 
Pig  Iron  from  charcoal  commenced  in  his  neighborhood ; 
when  the  iron-makers  paid  him  $  20  per  acre  for  the 
wood  on  two  hundred  acres  of  just  such  land  as  he  had 
that  year  paid  $  10  per  acre  for  clearing.  Here  was  a 
difference  of  $  6,000  made  to  one  farmer  between  having 
our  Iron  made  at  home  and  importing  it ;  and  that  farm- 
er was  enabled  to  see  that  Protection  benefited  others 
than  manufacturers. 

The  whole  country  is  thickly  dotted  with  cases  es- 
sentially like  this.  For  instance  :  I  bought,  eighteen 
months  ago,  a  rugged  wood-lot  from  which  the  wood  had 
just  been  cut,  and  which  was  largely  covered  with  the 
shrub  known  as  Laurel  (Rhododendron,  or  Kalmia), 
which  I  would  gladly  have  extirpated,  that  trees  might 
replace  it.  I  naturally  inquired  for  some  use  to  be  made 
of  this  shrub,  and  learned  that  a  manufactory  in  Con- 
necticut, forty  miles  away,  would  buy  it  at  $  6  per  cord, 
—  less  than  I  must  pay  for  its  .conveyance  thither. 
Had  that  factory  been  in  my  neighborhood,  my  Laurel 
would  have  been  property,  whereas  it  is  now  merely 
obstruction  and  nuisance.  And  it  would  be  difficult  to 
establish  in  any  rural  neighborhood  a  factory  that  would 
not  give  value  to  many  products  or  substances  previ- 
ously worthless,  if  not  worse. 

These,  then,  are  my  general  deductions  from  the  facts 
and  considerations  set  forth  in  the  foregoing  essays  :  — 

I.  Protection  is  another  name  for  Labor-Saving 
through  Cooperation,  by  bringing  producer  and  con- 


342  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

sumer  nearer  each  other,  enabling  them  to  interchange 
their  respective  products  directly  and  cheaply,  instead 
of  circuitously,  through  several  intermediates,  and  at 
great  cost.  In  thus  reducing  the  proportion  of  ex- 
changers and  increasing  that  of  producers  in  a  commu- 
nity, it  inevitably  increases  the  aggregate  product  of 
human  effort,  and  thus  enhances  the  recompense  of  Labor. 
As  Canals  and  Railroads  have  increased  production  and 
wealth  by  reducing  the  cost  of  transportation,  so  Pro- 
tection achieves  the  same  end  by  shortening  the  dis- 
tances for  which  transportation  is  required. 

II.  Protection  has  been  seen,  in  the  case  of  the  French 
production  of  Beet  Sugar,  to  call  into  existence  a  new- 
department  of  Industry,  with  signal  advantage  to  all 
concerned.  The  people  of  France  consume  far  more 
Sugar  than  they  ever  did  or  could  afford  to  do  until  its 
production  had  been  naturalized  on  their  own  soil.  They 
are  so  supplied  cheaper  than  they  ever  were  while  they 
procured  their  Sugar  from  abroad  ;  the  labor  which  pro- 
duces it  is  better  paid  than  it  was  or  could  be  in  the 
absence  of  this  industry ;  the  fertility  of  their  soil  has 
been  increased,  and  even  their  annual  product  of  Grain 
and  Meat  has  been  enlarged,  by  the  naturalization  among 
them  of  the  Beet  culture,  whereby  the  earth  is  pulver- 
ized and  fertilized  to  a  depth  without  precedent,  and  the 
following  crops  of  Wheat  largely  augmented,  while  the 
leaves  and  residuum  of  the  Beet  subsist  and  fatten  large 
numbers  of  Cattle.  And,  so  far  is  it  from  truth  that 
an  industry  once  protected  calls  ever  for  more  and  high- 
er Protection,  that  Raw  Sugar  of  excellent  quality  is 
now  sold  by  wholesale  in  France  at  an  average  of  five 
cents  per  pound,  and  its  producers  ask  no  Protection 
whatever,  but  acqiiies.ee  without  objection  in  an  excise 
or  internal  tax  on  their  product  fully  equal  to  that  borne 
by  the  Cane  Sugar  produced  in  the  tropical  colonies  of 
France. 


CONCLUSIONS.  343 

III.  While  there  has  been  an  advance  in  the  average 
prices  of  our  Agricultural  staples  since  the  passage  of 
our  first  decidedly  Protective  Tariff  in  1824,  there  is  no 
single  Manufacture  protected  by  that  Tariff  and  by  its 
Protective  successors  which  has  not   been   reduced   in 
cost  to  the  great  mass  of  our  consumers ;  and  that  re- 
duction is  generally  greatest  on  the  articles  which  have 
been  most  stringently,  persistently  protected.     Iron  and 
its  Manufactures,  Woollen  Fabrics  of  all  kinds,  Window 
Glass,  De  Laines,  Ginghams,  and  even  Salt,  illustrate 
this  truth. 

IV.  While  it  is  certain  that  we  already  produce  very 
many  Wares  and   Fabrics,  such   as   Edge   Tools,  Nails, 
Shovels,  Spades,  Satinets,  Cassimeres,  Sheetings,  Prints, 
De  Laines,  the  less  sumptuous  Shawls,  Clocks,  Watches, 
<fec.,  &c.,  — far  cheaper  than  Europe  ever  afforded  them 
till  we  began  to  make  for  ourselves,  —  cheaper  than  we 
could  now  obtain  an  adequate  supply  abroad,  if  we  had 
not  naturalized  their  production  on  our  own  soil,  —  it  is 
probable  that  some  articles,  like   Pig  Iron,  whereof  the 
cost   inheres  scarcely  at  all   in  the  material  employed, 
but  wholly  in  the  quantum  of  labor  required  to  produce 
them,  will  be  produced  at  a  lower   money  cost  abroad 
than  among  us,  and  that,  though  we   have  cheapened, 
and  shall   doubtless  continue  to  cheapen  them,  by  dis- 
coveries, by  inventions,  by  larger  aggregations  of  capital, 
and  by  a  riper  experience,  yet  —  the  discoveries  and  in- 
ventions of  our  people  being  speedily  appropriated  by 
our  foreign  rivals  —  it  is  probable  that,  so  long  as  Labor 
remains  relatively  dear  in  this  country  and   cheap   in 
Europe,  our  producers  of  these  articles  will  be  sharply 
rivalled,  sometimes   undersold,  and,  in  the   absence  of 
Protection  might  be,  as  they  have  hitherto  been,  under- 
mined and  broken  down  by  this  unfair,  unequal  compe- 
tition.    To  me,  it  seems  clearly  not  best  for  my  coun- 


344  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

try,  for  Labor,  nor  for  human  well-being,  that  such  pros- 
tration and  collapse  of  important  branches  of  our  Na- 
tional Industry  should  be  permitted  ;  and  I  hold  that  its 
legislative  prevention  by  tax  on  the  foreign  rivals  in  our 
markets  of  our  producers  of  wealth  is  as  justifiable  and 
beneficent  as  the  fortification  of  our  coasts  and  harbors 
against  possible  foreign  aggression. 

V.  The   true,   beneficent   relation   of  the   more   ad- 
vanced or  perfected  to  the  less  developed  and  immature 
industries  of  diverse  nations  seems  to  me  one  of  friendly 
encouragement,  not  depressing,  destructive  competition. 
If  (for  example)  the  people  of  Liberia  should  desire  next 
year  to  start  a  manufactory  of  Ploughs  and  other  Agricul- 
tural Implements,  I  could  wish  that  the  plough-makers 
of  Europe  and  America  would  make  to  that  factory  a 
present  of  approved  patterns  and  labor-saving  machines, 
and  in  every  way  bid  the  new  plough-makers  God  speed  : 
I  should  deeply  regret  to  hear  that,  instead  of  this,  they 
had  sent  out  large  invoices  of  farming  implements  to 
their  agents  in   Liberia,  with   instructions  to  sell  them 
below  cost  till   their  upstart  Liberian  rival   had   been 
broken  down.     In  my  view,  this  course  would  be  con- 
sistent  neither  with  a   Christian   spirit   nor   with   the 
highest  good  of  mankind.     And,  since  I  realize  that  this 
latter  course  is  far  moi-e  likely  to  be  taken  than  that 
which  I  greatly  prefer,  I  hold  it  a  duty  of  Governments 
to  protect  the  imperilled,  struggling  industries  of  their 
peoples  from  overthrow  by  a  competition  which,  in  its 
headlong  clutch  at  personal,  special  emolument,  tramples 
ruthlessly  on  the  just  claims  of  Labor,  and  is  deaf  to  the 
pleadings  of  Humanity. 

VI.  I   am   no  more  the  champion  of  the   Laboring 
Class,  inaccurately  so  designated,  —  that  is,  of  those  who 
sell   their  services  for  daily,  weekly,  monthly,  or  yearly 
wages,  —  than  of  any  other.     I  realize  that  this  class  is 


CONCLUSIONS.  345 

as  likely  as  any  other  to  be  selfish,  rapacious,  wrong- 
headed,  domineering,  tyrannical.  I  do  not  doubt  that 
what  are  called  "  Strikes  "  for  wages  are  often  mistaken, 
and  that  resistance  to  their  exactions  is  then  an  impera- 
tive necessity  as  well  as  a  social  duty.  I  feel  that  King 
Mob  may  be  as  irrational  and  headstrong  a  despot  as 
any  other  monarch.  Yet  I  cannot  forget  that  the  La- 
boring Class,  so  called,  must,  like  any  other,  stand  up 
for  its  own  rights,  or  be  content  to  see  them  trampled 
under  foot ;  and  that  the  strength  given  it  by  organiza- 
tion, superinduced  upon  numbers,  is  its  only  effectual 
defence  against  the  else  unchecked  tyranny  of  Capital, 
eager  for  profit  and  reckless  of  others'  rights.  The 
power  developed  by  combination  may  be  abused,  like  any 
other  power ;  but  Labor  is  helpless  and  a  prey  without 
it.  I  hold,  therefore,  that  Trades'  Unions  and  similar 
compacts,  though  often  abused,  have,  on  the  whole,  ef- 
fected signal  good  ;  that  Labor  is  to-day  better  paid,  and 
its  rights  better  secured,  than  they  otherwise  would  or 
could  be.  But  all  this  is  "  smoke  to  the  eyes  and  vin- 
egar to  the  nose  "  of  the  Free-Traders,  whose  fundamen- 
tal principle  it  impugns,  whose  entire  philosophy  it  con- 
flicts with.  Hence,  Professor  Perry  is  impelled  to  say  1 
that 

"  The  guilds  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  the  Trades'  Unions 
of  our  own  day,  are  examples  of  voluntary  associations  for 
the  sake  [purpose  ?]  of  regulating  the  wages  of  their  members 
by  combined  action.  The  restrictions  in  the  old  guilds,  limit- 
ing the  number  of  apprentices  to  each  artisan,  determining 
the  time  a  man  should  serve  before  he  could  become  a  master, 
and  so  on,  were  very  onerous,  and  have  mostly  passed  away. 
The  Trades'  Unions  of  this  country  have  never  been  very 
popular  or  successful.  The  Printers'  Union  in  the  principal 
cities  has  just  been  dissolved  amid  universal  contempt.  The 
spirit  of  Political  Economy,  which  is  the  spirit  of  freedom,  is 

1  Elements  of  Political  Economy,  p.  117,  118. 
15* 


346  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

against  such  associations  for  such  purposes.  If  any  man  has  a 
service  to  render,  let  him  offer  it  freely,  and  make  the  best 
terms  he  can  with  whoever  wants  it." 

This  is  undoubtedly  the  dictate  of  Free  Trade;  but 
the  Laboring  Class  dissents  from  and  will  never  agree  to 
it.  It  knows  that  whatever  there  may  be  of  improve- 
ment in  its  condition  has  been  achieved  by  standing 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  and  regarding  the  interest  of  each 
member  as  the  interest  of  the  whole  class ;  and  it  will 
not  consent  to  disarm  and  disband  in  the  face  of  antago- 
nisms which  stand  ready  to  take  advantage  of  its  disor- 
dered ranks  in  the  future  as  they  have  done  in  the  past. 
It  may  sometimes  abuse  the  might  it  has  evolved 
through  Combination ;  but  it  can  never  afford  to  discard 
the  instrumentality  and  definitively  renounce  the  power. 

VII.  Cooperation  —  the  organization  of  workmen  into 
bodies  capable  of  selling  their  own  labor  or  its  product 
by  wholesale,  and  fairly  dividing  or  allotting  its  proceeds, 
or  of  consumers  to  purchase  in  gross  whatever  they 
may  require,  and  divide  or  apportion  it  at  the  least  pos- 
sible cost  —  seems  to  be  the  step  next  ahead  in  the  in- 
dustrial and  social  progress  of  the  civilized  world.  Con- 
sidering how  protracted,  how  arduous,  how  costhy,  has 
been  the  struggle  to  overthrow  an  abuse  so  flagrant  as 
Slavery,  we  ought  not  to  expect  that  this  will  be  accom- 
plished in  one  generation,  nor  in  two ;  and  yet  I  deem 
its  ultimate  success  inevitable.  The  economies  to  be 
realized  through  Cooperation  —  economies  in  rent  or 
hoxise-room,  in  fuel,  in  the  first  cost  of  raw  provisions, 
in  the  preparation  of  food,  in  medical  service,  •  &c.,  &c.,  — 
are  so  vast  and  pervading  that  I  do  not  see  how  ra- 
tional, intelligent  beings  can  long  resist  or  fail  to  secure 
them.  Let  us  suppose  that  one  thousand  heads  of  fam- 
ilies were  firmly  banded,  under  officers  implicitly  trusted 
and  fully  worthy  of  their  trust,  with  a  view  to  the  most 


CONCLUSIONS.  347 

effective  employment  of  their  labor,  and  the  most 
economical  outlay  of  their  means,  so  that  one  of  their 
number  should  purchase  for  cash  at  wholesale  all  that  was 
required  to  satisfy  their  material  wants ;  while  another 
devoted  his  time  to  finding  employment  and  making 
contracts  for  their  labor ;  a  third  sought  out  and  bar- 
gained for  the  premises  best  adapted  to  afford  them  the 
required  house-room  on  the  most  favorable  terms ;  and 
only  the  number  needed  were  employed  in  transforming 
animals  into  meat,  grain  into  flour  or  bread,  and  re- 
ducing every  article  purchased  to  the  condition  most  con- 
ducive to  the  satisfaction  of  their  various  needs,  —  every 
one  being  required  only  to  earn  before  spending,  and  to 
defray  his  just  proportion  of  the  common  outlay,  —  who 
can  fully  realize  the  vast  economies,  both  of  time  and 
means,  that  would  thus  be  secured]  Suppose  some 
member  of  this  combination  should  be  allotted,  through 
the  imperfect  working  of  the  machinery,  five  to  ten  per 
cent,  less  than  his  righteous  due,  he  must  still  receive 
so  much  more  than  he  now  does  or  can  secure,  that  his 
casual  loss  would  be  swallowed  up  in  his  far  exceeding 
and  enduring  gain.  It  must  be  that  the  more  intelli- 
gent and  capable  portion  of  the  Laboring  Class  is  pre- 
pared or  preparing  to  realize  economies  so  vast  and  so 
palpable,  and  that  few  years  can  elapse  before  the  desti- 
nies of  that  class  will  be  moulded,  its  dependence  on  more 
favored  classes  weakened,  and  its  circumstances  vastly 
improved,  by  systematic,  pervading  Cooperation.  After 
that  stage  in  its  progress  shall  have  been  attained,  I  feel 
sure  that  its  contributions  to  the  support  of  the  liquor- 
seller,  the  professional  gambler,  and  the  purveyor  to  any 
vicious  appetite  whatever,  will  be  immeasurably  less 
considerable  than  they  have  been. 

VIII.  Full  as  our  world  is  of  misdirection,  misman- 
agement, and  waste  of  all  kinds,  the  most  gigantic  of  its 


348  POLITICAL   ECONOMY. 

material  calamities  are  these  two  :  1.  Lack  of  industrial 
training  on  the  part  of  at  least  twenty-five  per  cent,  of 
its  boys,  and  fifty  to  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  its  girls ; 
2.  (in  good  part  consequent  on  the  former)  Lack  of 
employment  for  those  who  should  be,  and  most  of 
them  would  be,  at  work  if  work  were  proffered  them. 
Though  we  have  perhaps  as  slight  a  proportion  of  habit- 
ual, chronic  idlers  as  any  other  people,  yet  our  loss  from 
idleness  alone  (very  much  of  it  involuntary)  must 
amount  to  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  per  annum,  — 
far  more  than  our  average  annual  losses  by  flood  and  fire, 
by  frost  and  drought,  by  storm  and  wreck,  and  by  every 
other  description  of  physical  calamity.  And  idleness  is  too 
often  a  hereditary  disease  ;  the  vagrant  or  strolling  beg- 
gar of  one  age  perpetuating  and  increasing  his  kind  in 
the  vagrants  and  beggars  of  the  next.  Two-thirds  of 
our  vast  and  ever  increasing  array  of  felons  is  recruited 
from  the  ranks  of  those  bred  to  idleness  and  unfamiliar 
with  any  department  of  productive  labor.  Among  the 
most  urgent  of  our  needs  is  that  of  Industrial  Educa- 
tion for  all ;  and  this  is  in  part  met  by  a  multiplication 
and  diversification  of  pursuits,  giving  employment  to  a 
wider  range  of  tastes  and  capacities,  and  drawing  more 
and  more  into  the  walks  of  systematic  industry  by  prof- 
fering more  varied  incitements  thereto.  If  it  seemed 
more  profitable  to  devote  all  our  energies  to  tilling  the 
soil,  that  seeming  would  be  fallacious,  because  oblivious 
of  the  need  of  a  great  diversity  of  pursuits  to  educe  our 
diverse  capacities  and  incite  as  Avell  as  employ  our  varied 
aspirations  and  faculties.  Industry  is  the  better  part  of 
the  education  of  a  majority  of  mankind,  and  its  mul- 
tiform lessons  should  be  commended  and  brought  home 
to  each  and  all. 

IX.  Labor  and  the  Skill  thence  resulting,  therewith 
combined,  being  the  only  property  and  means  of  liveli- 


CONCLUSIONS.  349 

hood  of  a  large  portion  of  the  community,  Government 
should  be  as  solicitous  and  as  vigilant  for  its  due  Pro- 
tection as  for  that  of  any  other  individual  Property.  To 
this  end,  Patent  and  Copyright  laws  are  wisely  enacted 
and  enforced ;  to  this  end,  Usury  laws  (whether  wisely 
or  unwisely)  seek  to  confine  within  reasonable  bounds 
the  rapacity  of  money-lenders ;  to  this  end,  Tariff  acts 
are  so  shaped  that,  while  they  provide  the  Revenue  re- 
quired for  the  support  and  efficiency  of  Government, 
they  at  the  same  time  defend  exposed  and  imperilled  de- 
partments of  the  National  Industry  from  prostration 
and  overthrow  by  destructive  foreign  competition.  As 
Carlyle  well  says,  the  well-being  of  England  should  never 
hang  suspended  on  her  ability  to  make  cotton-cloth  a 
farthing  an  ell  cheaper  than  any  other  nation,  so  I  main- 
tain that  the  livelihood  and  industrial  training  of  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  our  people  should  not  be  imper- 
illed by  the  fact  (if  fact  it  be)  that  the  British  or  any 
other  people  can  make  cotton-cloth  a  farthing  an  ell 
cheaper  than  it  can  be  made  in  this  country. 

X.  The  Free-Traders  are  accustomed  to  assure  the. 
people  that  they,  too,  are  in  favor  of  a  Tariff,  not,  in- 
deed, for  Protection,  but  for  Revenue  alone.  Assuming 
that  they  are  sincere  in  this  assertion,  they  seem  to  me 
the  most  inconsistent  of  mortals.  Day  by  day,  they  pro- 
claim and  reiterate  that  cheapness  is  desirable,  —  that 
low  prices  for  Iron,  for  Fabrics,  for  Wares,  are  conducive 
to  general  prosperity,  —  and  that  a  duty  on  an  imported 
article  injuriously  enhances,  by  nearly  its  amount,  the 
price,  not  only  of  whatever  is  imported  subject  to  that 
duty,  but  of  whatever  is  made  and  sold  in  this  country 
in  competition  with  the  article  thus  imported.  Suppose, 
for  illustration,  we  import  Six  Hundred  Thousand  tons 
of  Iron  per  annum,  and  make  at  home  Eighteen  Hun- 
dred Thousand  tons  (and  these  will  be  very  nearly 


350  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

the  actual  figures  for  the  calendar  year  1869)  :  Let  us 
put  the  average  cost  of  the  imported  Iron  at  $  40  (gold) 
per  ton,  and  say  that  the  Free-Traders,  being  in  power, 
impose  on  that  Iron  a  duty  of  twenty  per  cent,  for 
Revenue  solely,  making  the  importers  of  Iron  pay 
$  4,800,000  per  annum  into  the  Treasury.  So  far,  all 
seems  easy  and  natural.  But  this  duty  enhances  (so  they 
assure  us)  the  price  not  merely  of  the  imported  but  of  the 
home-made  Iron  also  :  so  that  our  consumers  of  Iron  are 
compelled  by  this  duty  to  pay  Fourteen  Million  Four 
Hundred  Thousand  Dollars  into  the  pockets  of  the 
American  Iron-masters  in  order  that  this  $  4,800,000 
may  be  secured  for  the  Treasury.  What  sort  of  econo- 
my, political  or  otherwise,  is  this  1  Why  should  the 
consumers  of  Iron  pay  this  exorbitant  sum  to  favored 
individuals  —  all  of  them  asserted  to  be  rolling  in 
wealth — in  order  to  get  an  amount  so  much  smaller 
into  the  Treasury  1  Surely,  if  the  Free-Traders'  prem- 
ises are  sound  (as  I  feel  sure  they  are  not),  Tariff 
taxation,  though  Revenue  be  its  sole  object,  is  the  most 
unequal,  unjust,  injurious  mode  in  which  the  Treasury 
can  be  replenished ;  and  the  fact  that  we  are  heavily  in 
debt  and  obliged  to  raise  large  sums  by  taxation,  should 
dictate  the  entire  abrogation  of  Duties  on  Imports,  and 
the  substitution  therefor  of  some  system  which  would 
not  take  four  dollars  from  the  community  for  every  one 
that  it  puts  into  the  Treasury.  The  naked  fact  that  the 
Free-Traders  persist  in  declaring  themselves  supporters 
of  a  Tariff  for  Revenue  proves  them  unsound  in  their 
fundamental  positions  or  extremely  reckless  of  the  pub- 
lic interest  and  welfare. 

XL  Our  Revolutionary  patriots  were,  with  few  excep- 
tions, farmers  ;  and  their  statesmen  and  soldiers  were 
generally,  like  Washington,  engaged  in  cultivating  the 
soil.  Yet  the  first  Tariff  ever  framed  under  our  Federal 


CONCLUSIONS.  351 

Constitution  declared  "  the  Protection  of  Manufac- 
tures "  to  be  one  of  its  objects ;  and  this  act  received 
the  approval  of  Washington.  Jefferson  and  Madison 
were  likewise  agriculturists  ;  Andrew  Jackson  and  Henry 
Clay  were  the  representatives  in  Congress  of  constit- 
uencies almost  wholly  Agricultural ;  yet  these  forcibly 
urged  the  Protection  of  Manufactures  expressly  for  the 
benefit  of  our  inland  Agriculture,  by  creating  and  dif- 
fusing a  demand  for  its  produce  which  should  not  be 
subject  to  the  fluctuations  and  caprice  of  foreign  mar- 
kets. "  Plant  the  manufacturer  by  the  side  of  the. 
farmer,"  said  in  substance  Thomas  Jefferson  ; l  so  said, 
in  those  identical  words,  General  Jackson,  eight  years 
later.  Not  in  the  interest  of  a  manufacturing  class, 
which  had  as  yet  no  existence,  but  in  order  that  Agri- 
culture might  have  a  just  and  sure  reward,  was  the  Pro- 
tective policy  commended,  not  by  these  only,  but  by 
George  Clinton,  Simon  Snyder,  Dewitt  Clinton,  William 
L.  Marcy,  and  other  eminent  Governors  of  States,  and 
by  a  large  majority  of  our  most  honored  statesmen 
of  the  Revolutionary  and  the  succeeding  generation.  I 
submit  that  these  were  not  the  dupes  of  specious 
phrases,  nor  yet  of  sordid  interests,  but  that  they  knew 
whereof  they  affirmed,  and  spoke  from  personal  knowl- 
edge of  the  disasters  which  preceded,  the  blessings 
which  followed,  the  initial  triumphs  of  Protection. 

XII.  Monopoly  is  the  restriction  to  one,  or  to  a  small 
class,  of  the  right  to  make,  vend,  or  use,  a  certain  ar- 
ticle. A  man  may  be  loosely  said  to  have  a  monopoly 
of  his  own  farm  or  fireside  ;  but  how  has  any  one  a 
monopoly  of  a  pursuit  which  is  free  to  all  his  country- 
men ]  and  how  can  that  law  be  said  to  create  a  mo- 
nopoly in  favor  of  those  now  prosecuting  a  business 
which,  inevitably,  strongly,  invites  others  to  embark  in 

1  Letter  to  Benjamin  Austin,  1816. 


352  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

that  business  and  partake  fully  of  its  gains  1  The  use 
made  of  the  term  Monopoly  by  Free-Traders  seems  to 
me  an  affront  to  the  general  intelligence,  —  an  ostenta- 
tious defiance  of  dictionaries,  —  an  experiment  which 
presumes  an  amazing  dearth  of  common  sense. 

XIII.  Insidious  efforts  have  long  been,  and  still  are 
being,  made  by  Free-Traders  to  prejudice  especially  the 
West  against  Protection,  as  a  device  to  enrich  and  ag- 
grandize the    East,  and    particularly  New  England,  at 
the  expense  of  the  newer  States.     If  one  were  to  believe 
the  speeches  made,  the   editorials  written,  throughout 
the  West,  by  anti-Protectionists,  he  would  suppose  that 
New  England  had  devised  and  originated  Protection  to 
subserve  her   own    special    ends.     Yet    History   proves 
that  New  England  opposed  Protection  throughout  the 
earlier  struggles  in  its  behalf,  while  the  Free  West  with 
great    unanimity    forced    it  xipon    her,  practically  con- 
straining her  to  withdraw  her  capital  and  energies  in 
good   measure  from  Navigation  and  Foreign  Trade  and 
employ  them  in  Manufactures.     And  now,  among  the 
duties    most    vehemently  denounced   at   the  West   are 
those  on   Iron,  Lumber,  and   Salt,  —  all  articles  largely 
imported    and   consumed   by  New    England ;    none    of 
them,    to    any    considerable    extent,  produced    by    her. 
And,  for  every  furnace  and  factory  built  or  set  to  work 
in    the    East   because    of  the  Protective    regime   inau- 
gurated in  1861,  at  least  two  have  been,  while  more  are 
about  to  be,  called  into  being  in  the  West. 

XIV.  The  striking  fact  that  more   immigrants  have 
landed  on  our  shores  in  a  single  year  since  our  Industry 
was  measurably  diversified    by  the   naturalization  and 
growth  of   Manufactures,   than  during  the  whole  forty 
years  of  our   National    existence    which   preceded    the 
passage  of  the  Tariff  of  1824,  and  that  immigration  is 
more  considerable  from  Ireland  and  the  purely  Agricul- 


CONCLUSIONS.  353 

tural  portions  of  Germany  than  from  the  far  denser 
populations  of  Great  Britain  and  of  those  German 
States  wherein  a  mixed  industry  has  taken  root,  bear 
their  own  comment.  Right  well  do  I  comprehend  that 
the  discovery  of  Gold  in  California  gave  a  special  im- 
petus to  this  immigration,  and  that  its  volume  has  not 
always  been  immediately  swelled  by  a  casual  triumph 
of  Protection,  nor  diminished  by  a  temporary  predomi- 
nance of  relative  Free  Trade.  The  factories  and  fur- 
naces called  into  existence  by  Protection  are  not  closed 
immediately  on  the  passage  of  a  lower  tariff ;  no  sensible 
man  ever  imagined  that  they  would  be.  Important 
branches  of  Home  Manufacture  long  since  attained  an 
efficiency  and  perfection,  by  the  aid  of  American  inven- 
tions, machinery,  and  skill,  that  enable  them  to  defy 
foreign  rivalry  under  almost  any  conditions.  It  is  none 
the  less  true,  however,  that  Population  strongly  tends 
in  either  hemisphere  to  abandon  the  regions  wholly  de- 
voted to  Agriculture,  and  concentrate  in  districts  alive 
and  vital  with  the  hiss  of  steam,  the  hum  of  machinery, 
and  the  roar  of  wheels,  —  that  the  existence  and  pros- 
perity of  manufactures  in  any  country  is  strongly  con- 
ducive, if  not  indispensable,  to  the  steady,  majestic  in- 
flux thereto  of  Immigration. 

XV.  Finally,  the  great  truth,  so  forcibly  set  forth  by 
Mr.  Clay  in  1832,  that  Protection  has  been  to  us  a 
sheet-anchor  of  Prosperity,  a  mainspring  of  Progress, 
has  not  been  and  can  never  be  explained  away.  Our 
years  of  signal  disaster  and  depression  have  been  those 
in  which  our  ports  were  most  easily  flooded  with  foreign 
goods,  —  those  which  intervened  betwixt  the  recognition 
of  our  Independence  and  the  enactment  of  the  Tariff 
of  1789, — those  which  followed  the  close  of  our  Last 
War  with  Great  Britain,  and  were  signalized  by  immense 
importations  of  her  Fabrics,  —  those  of  1837  -  42,  when 


354  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

the  Compromise  of  1833  began  to  be  seriously  felt  in 
the  reduction  of  duties  on  imports ;  and  those  of 
1854-57,  when  the  Polk-Walker  Tariff  of  1846  had 

*  fr 

had  time  to  take  full  effect.  No  similarly  sweeping  re- 
vulsions and  prostrations  ever  took  place  —  I  think 
none  could  take  place  —  under  the  sway  of  efficient  Pro- 
tection. Said  Mr.  Clay  in  1832,  after  premising  that 
the  seven  years  preceding  the  passage  of  the  Tariff  of 
1824  had  been  the  most  disastrous,  while  the  seven  fol- 
lowing the  passage  of  that  act  had  been  the  most  pros- 
perous, that  our  country  had  ever  known,  "  This  trans- 
formation of  the  condition  of  the  country  from  gloom 
and  distress  to  brightness  and  prosperity  has  been  main- 
ly the  work  of  American  legislation,  fostering  American 
industry,  instead  of  allowing  it  to  be  controlled  by  foreign 
legislation,  cherishing  foreign  industry."  God  grant  us 
the  wisdom  and  virtue  to  press  forward  on  the  shining 
path  thus  opened  plainly  before  us,  to  the  end  that  our 
Labor  may  be  fully  employed  and  fairly  recompensed, 
and  that  age  after  age  may  witness  the  rapid  yet  sub- 
stantial progress  and  growth  of  our  people  in  all  the  arts 
of  Peace,  —  all  the  elements  of  National  well-being ! 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


ABOLITION  •  each  cotton-factory  in  the  South  regarded  as  a  citadel  of,  24. 

ABORIGINES  (West  Indian) :  81. 

ABYSSINIA  :  319. 

ACHARD  :  188, 189. 

ADAMS  (President) :  253. 

AFRICA  :  penetrated  by  the  Saracens,  16,  62  ;  captive  negroes  introduced  from, 
81 ;  slavery  in,  82  ;  South,  288. 

AGASSIZ  (Professor) :  319. 

AGRICULTURE  :  General  Jackson  on  diversion  of  Labor  from,  35;  importance  of 
near  market  for  the  products  of,  36  ;  the  Free  Trade  fallacy  as  to  the  choice 
of  two  markets,  36 ;  the  profits  of,  increased  by  manufactures,  37 ;  belief 
once  entertained  that  the  country  should  be  exclusively  agricultural,  46  ;  the 
inevitable  effect,  46;  prostrated  by  the  influx  of  British  goods  after  the  war 
of  1812-14,  62  ;  the  great  men  of  early  years  of  the  Republic  directly  or  in- 
directly connected  with  Agriculture,  108  ;  nearly  unanimous  in  favor  of  Pro- 
tection, 108;  believed  it  essential  in  the  interests  of  Agriculture,  108  ;  extract 
from  Washington's  first  Annual  Message  in  favor  of  promoting  manufactures, 
109  ;  action  of  Congress  thereon,  109;  Alexander  Hamilton's  Report,  109  ;  a 
Committee  on  Commerce  and  Manufactures  created,  110  ;  Washington  affirms 
his  former  views,  110 ;  Jefferson  on  the  legitimate  objects  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment, 110;  on  the  maintenance  of  Protection,  112;  Madison  advocates 
the  Protection  and  Encouragement  of  Manufactures,  112  - 114  ;  Dallas  on 
the  interest  of  the  Agriculturist  in  Manufactures,  115;  Newton,  of  Virginia, 
on  the  harmony  of  interests,  116;  William  Lowndes  reports  the  Tariff  of  1816, 
116;  Calhoun's  remarks  in  its  favor,  117;  advantages  of  the  measure  he  sus- 
tained, 118  ;  references  to  the  messages  of  Governors  George  Clinton,  Tomp- 
kins,  DeWitt  Clinton,  and  Snyder,  as  corroborative  of  the  value  to  agricul- 
ture of  Protection,  118  ;  the  consideration  asked  for  the  arguments  and  views 
of  the  Fathers,  119  ;  the  founders  of  the  Republic  conversant  with  Free  Trade 
arguments,  133;  Webster's  Free  Trade  Speech,  1824,  133;  John  Randolph 
of  Roanoke  leads  the  Southern  anti-Protectionists,  133 ;  the  reasons  which 
governed  the  action  of  the  various  States,  1824,  133,  134 ;  the  votes  in  the 
House  from  each  State  for  the  Tariff  of  1824, 134  ;  Dr.  Francis  Lieber's  state- 
ment considered,  135  ;  the  fallacy  thereof,  136  ;  the  benefit  of  Protection  to 
the  Agriculturist,  136  ;  secures  him  manufactures  at  less  cost  in  produce,  136; 
distant  markets  fluctuating,  137 ;  exhaustion  of  the  soil,  137  ;  increase  in  the 
value  of  Farm  Products,  Timber,  &c.,  138  ;  Londonderry,  N.  II.,  as  an  illus- 
tration thereof,  139;  corroborated  by  the  action  of  the  Canadian  farmers, 
139;  Franklin  on  the  interdependence  of  Agriculture  and  Home  Manufac- 
tures, 139  ;  Henry  C.  Carey  on  the  value  of  near  markets  to  fanners,  140; 


356  ANALYTICAL   INDEX. 

E.  B.  Ward  on  the  necessity  for  Protection,  141 ;  Adam  Smith  on  the  value 
of  Manufactures  to  Agriculture,  142  ;  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher  on  the  encourage- 
ment and  successful  prosecution  of  Agriculture,  142  - 144  ;  President  Monroe 
urges  Congress  to  afford  Protection  to  Manufactures,  144  ;  the  American  Sys- 
tem, 145 ;  Protection  required  in  the  interests  of,  149  ;  Manufactures  increase 
the  recompense  of  Agricultural  Labor,  167  j  the  French  Minister  of,  =  190  =  ; 
the  Sugar  Industry  of  France  in  connection  with  agriculture,  199;  favored  in 
all  its  branches  by  the  Beet  Sugar  Industry,  202;  relative  situation  of  our 
great  grain-growing  districts,  236  ;  our  policy  in  regard  to  agricultural  pro- 
ducts, 243;  the  beneficent  influence  of  Manufactures  on  Agriculture,  245  = 
276  =  ;  Immigration  inconsiderable  while  the  country  was  almost  exclusively 
agricultural,  307;  population  tends  to  abandon  purely  agricultural  regions, 
306 ;  Immigration  very  small  during  the  period  of  low  tariffs  and  exclusive 
devotion  to  agriculture,  308  ;  immigration  of  the  Agricultural  and  Manufac- 
turing eras  compared,  310  ;  favorable  effect  of  Manufactures  on  Immigration, 
319  ;  distant  markets  for  produce  capricious,  and  prices  unremunerative,  322  ; 
Protection  advocated  by  our  great  men  in  the  interests  of  Agriculture,  350; 
adopted  that  policy  from  enlightened  reasons  and  experience,  351. 

ALABAMA  :  134  =  168  =  244  =  252. 

ALASKA:  319. 

ALBANY:  103. 

ALEXANDRIA  :  26. 

ALISON  (Archibald) :  136. 

ALMANAC  (Merchants  and  Bankers') :  218. 

AMERICA  :  influence  of  the  discovery  of,  on  Commerce,  26  =  61  =  ,  62 ;  exten- 
sion of  Slavery  in  North  and  South,  81 ;  Indians  of,  81 ;  extent  of  bondage 
in  a  century  ago,  82, 186. 

AMERICA  (British) :  affords  only  an  inadequate  market  for  Canadian  manufac- 
tures, 38  =  229  =  288  =  313. 

AMERICA  (Central) :  314. 

AMERICA  (South) :  62  =  81  =  288  =  312  =  314. 

ANCHORS  :  231. 

ANDERSON  :  "  History  of  Commerce,"  95. 

APPLES:  336. 

ARIZONA:  322. 

ARjnvRiGHT :  319. 

ASH:  230. 

ASIA  :  16  =  48  =  62  ;  slavery  in,  82  =  171  =  288. 

ASSOCIATION  :  90. 

ASTOR  (John  Jacob) :  20. 

AUSTERLITZ  :  191. 

AUSTRIA  :  313. 

AUSTRALIA  :  152,  241,  288,  303. 

AXES  :  American  superior  to  European,  47  =  105. 

AZORES  (The) :  312,  314. 

BALANCE  OF  TRADE  :  how  an  adverse  is  injurious,  60 ;  the  popular  feeling  right  on 
the  matter,  60  ;  the  Free  Trade  treatment  of  the  subject,  60 ;  the  Roman  Em- 
pire and  the  drainage  of  specie,  61 ;  beneficial  effects  on  Europe  of  the  gold  from 
America,  61 ;  the  Free  Trade  assumption  that  a  country  may  part  with  half 
its  specie  without  serious  harm,  61 ;  the  injury  entailed  by  general  recourse 
to  barter,  61 ;  personal  recollections  of  the  pecuniary  ruin  at  the  close  of  the 
last  war  with  England,  62 ;  Bankruptcy  in  New  Erigland,  63 ;  pressure  of 
Debt  in  Kentucky  and  its  effects,  63  ;  the  New  York  merchants  memorialize 


ANALYTICAL   INDEX.  357 

Congress,  63  ;  the  mercantile  and  manufacturing  interests  ruined,  63  ;  gen- 
eral consequences  of  the  export  of  specie  1815-21  illustrated,  64  ;  results  of 
scarcity  of  money  summarized,  65  ;  Free  Trade  propositions  respecting  Im- 
ports and  Exports  considered,  65  ;  evidences  of  an  adverse  Balance  of  Trade, 
66  ;  considerations  which  should  govern  Imports  and  Exports,  67. 

BALTIMORE  :  122. 

BANKS  :  their  origin,  71 ;  development  of  banking,  71 ;  an  illustration  of  asso- 
ciation, 90. 

BASTIAT  (Frederic) :  60  ;  his  treatment  of  the  Balance  of  Trade  question,  66. 

BAYARD  (William) :  222 

BEECHER  (Rev.  Lyman) :  on  the  encouragement  and  successful  prosecution  of 
Agriculture,  142. 

BEDFORD  :  167. 

BEDOUINS  :  23. 

BELGIUM  :  150  =  196  =  207  =  298  =  312  =  313  =  314. 

BENTON  (Hon.  Thomas  H.):  135  =253. 

BERMUDA  :  148. 

BEET  :  187  =  199  =  200  =  201  =  204  =  209 ;  see  also  SUGAR. 

BEREZINA  :  191. 

BERLIN  :  188. 

BIGELOW  (Hon.  Erastus  B.) :  on  Wools  and  Woollens,  296 ;  rebukes  the  court 
terfeiting  of  foreign  trade-marks,  297. 

BLANKETS  (Army):  234. 

BLODGET  (Samuel):  308. 

BORODINO  :  191. 

BOSTON  :  290. 

BOWRING  (Dr.  John):  327  =  328. 

BRAZIL:  231,303. 

BROMWELL  (W.  J.) :  308,  309. 

BROOKLYN  :  265. 

BROUGHAM  (Lord) :  93. 

BROWNE  (Ross  J.) :  observation  of,  on  the  Holy  Land,  22. 

BUCHANAN  (President) :  57  =97. 

BUILDING  SOCIETIES  (Cooperative) :  79. 

CABLES  :  231. 

CALCUTTA:  227. 

CALHOUX  (JohnC.):  framed  and  advocated  the  Tariff  of  1816,24;  abandoned 
Protection  when  he  became  the  foremost  champion  of  Slavery,  24 ;  defended 
the  proposed  duty  on  Cotton  Fabrics  in  the  Tariff  of  1816, 117  ;  his  remarks, 
117  =  217  =  323. 

CALIFORNIA  :  43  =  48  =  ;  limited  its  currency  to  gold  and  silver,  69  ;  the  roiling 
rate  of  interest  in,  69 ;  overtrading  not  prevented  by  its  exclusively  specie 
currency,  69, 168  =  241  =  286  =  310  =  321. 

CAMBRF.LENG  (Hon.  Churchill  C.) :  argues  that  Protection  must  destroy  Reve- 
nue, 250. 

CANADA  :  38  =  139  =  148  =  260  =  311  =  319. 

CANALS  :  contemplated  in  New  York  before  the  era  of  Independence,  122 ; 
Washington  interests  himself  about  canals,  123  ;  advantages  to  be  derived 
from  extended  communications,  124  ;  canal  project,  1791, 124  ;  Fulton  suggests 
a  canal  project  to  Pennsylvania,  125  ;  the  Erie  Canal,  126  ;  result  of  its  com- 
pletion, 126 ;  the  canal  policy  of  New  York  opposed  with  the  arguments 
now  used  against  Protection,  128  ;  the  Erie  Canal  demonstrating  the  impor- 
tance of  State  over  individual  action,  131  =  340  =  342. 


358  ANALYTICAL  INDEX. 

CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE:  303. 

CAPITAL:  defined,  40  ;  the  value  of  Capital,  41;  Civilization  based  on  Capital 
and  systematic  Labor,  40 ;  relation  of  Capital  to  Destitution,  41 ;  Capital  in 
its  bearing  on  natural  right,  41 ;  definitions  of  Capital  considered,  42 ;  instan- 
ces of  illusory  distinctions  between  Capital  and  Wealth,  42 ;  Labor  may  be  so 
misapplied  as  to  produce  no  wealth,  42;  illustrations  of  same,  42;  saving 
habits  more  beneficial  to  the  community  than  wasteful,  43 ;  the  assumed  re- 
lation between  Wages  and  Capital  considered,  43 ;  the  case  of  California  cited, 
43;  circumstances  under  which  an  increase  in  Wealth  is  prejudicial,  43  ;  the 
proposition  that  Capital  must  be  consumed  to  render  it  productive,  43-44; 
the  object  of  Industry,  44  ;  incalculable  value  of  the  world's  accumulated 
wealth,  44 ;  our  indebtedness  to  past  ages,  44 ;  our  obligations  to  posterity, 
44  ;  distinction  between  the  want  of  Capital  and  of  Money,  59;  only  needed 
by  the  American  people  to  achieve  great  results,  68 ;  =  77  =  ;  an  exclusively 
Paper  currency  in  connection  with  Capital,  78  ;  cheaper  in  Western  Europe 
than  in  the  United  States,  78  ;  the  dearness  of  Capital  impedes  the  progress 
of  our  National  Industry,  78 ;  the  Wages  system  foments  hostility  between 
Capital  and  Labor,  85  ;  its  relative  scarcity  and  dearness  in  the  United  States, 
151  =  158  =  172. 

CAPRON  (Hon.  Horace) :  206. 

CAREY  (Henry  C.) :  136 ;  on  the  influence  of  near  markets  on  farming,  140. 

CAREY  (Matthew) :  reference  to  the  writings  of,  34. 

CARLYLE  (Thomas) :   on  Work,  20  =  54  =  169  =  349. 

CAROLINA  (North) :  relative  production,  19 ;  little  wealth  produced  in,  save  by 
men's  labor,  19  =  134  =  244  =  252  =  272. 

CAROLINA  (South) :  favors  the  Tariff  of  1816, 118  =  116  =  134  =  252  =  272  =  323. 

CARPETING  :  Duties  on,  292. 

CARROT  :  187. 

CARTHAGE:  26. 

CAS^IMERES  :  343. 

CATTLE:  235. 

CAULSDORFP  :  188. 

CAYENNE  :  209. 

CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE  (New  York  :  293  =  protest  against  the  Tariff  of  1824, 
222  ;  against  minimums,  293. 

CHAMPAGNE  :  adulterations  of,  155. 

CHAMPLAIN  :  151, 152. 

CHANNINO  (Rev.  W.  E.) :  on  the  beneficence  of  Labor,  21. 

CHARLESTON  (S.  C.) :  122  =  British  vessels  at,  display  their  flags  at  half  mast,  253. 

CHEESE  :  234,  338. 

CHICAGO  :  244. 

CHINA  :  allusion  to,  as  tea-growing  country,  30  ;  the  relative  price  of  tea  in,  31 ; 
condition  of  the  population  of,  44  ;  her  fabrics  once  worn  extensively  in  New 
England,  45  ;  Chinese  now  importers  of  fabrics,  45  ;  our  dependence  on,  for 
raw  silk,  48  =  49  =  ;  immigration  from,  83,  =  124  =  152  =  155  =  186  =  227 
=  231,  307,  =  312,  313. 

CIVILIZATION  :  security  of  property  essential  to  the  maintenance  of,  15  ;  Greek 
and  Roman,  as  affected  by  distaste  for  labor,  16 ;  based  on  Capital  and  sys- 
tematic Labor,  40. 

CLAY  (Hon.  Henry) :  relation  as  a  Protectionist  to  the  Slavery  Propaganda,  24  ; 
reference  to  the  speeches  of,  34  ;  defeat  of,  in  1844,  followed  by  repeal,  97 ; 
exposes  the  Free  Trade  fallacy  about  prices,  101  =  135  =  136  =  189  =  212  = 
220 ;  on  the  contrasted  influences  of  Free  Trade  and  Protection  (1832),  261  «= 
351  =  353  =  354. 


ANALYTICAL  INDEX.  359 

CLDJTOJJ  (Governor  George) :  34  =  118  =  351. 

CLINTON  (Governor  DeWitt) :  34  =  118  =  126  =  851. 

CLOCKS:  343. 

CLOTH  :  139. 

CLOTHING  AND  DRESS  Goons:  Duties  upon,  291. 

CLOTHES-MAKING  :  referred  to,  as  an  illustration  of  how  dependence  on  foreign 

markets  operates,  338,  339. 
CLYDE  (the  River) :  225  =  226  =  228  =  230. 
COAL  :  95  =  172  =  173  =  236  =  244. 
COAST  (Atlantic) :  274.  r 

COASTING  TRADE  :  231. 
COBDEX-CHEVALIER  TREATY  :  the,  332. 
COLEMAN  (Dr.) :  letter  from  General  Jackson  to,  34, 134. 
COLISEUM  :  42. 

COLLES  (Christopher) :  123  =  125. 
COLONIES  (French) :  195. 
COLUMBUS  :  15  =  61  =  81  =  91  =  186. 


COMMERCE  :  the  immense  growth  and  development  of  modern,  26 ;   cause  to 
which  it  is  due,  26 ;  its  greatness  compared  with  ancient,  26 ;  presages  of  its 


Political  Economy  in  relation  to  Commerce  and  Production,  29 ;  advantage  of 
reducing  the  number  of  non-producers,  29;  waste  of  human  effort  by  unprof- 
itable exchanges,  29 ;  no  contravention  of  the  laws  of  nature  proposed,  29  ; 
Free  Trade  evasions  of  the  true  issue  in  regard  to  Commerce,  30 ;  the  true 
functions  of  international  and  trans-oceanic,  30;  no  duty  proposed  on  pro- 
ducts where  Nature  is  a  barrier,  30  ;  where  the  principle  of  Protection  might 
be  wisely  applied,  30  ;  enhanced  cost  of  Tea  to  consumers  from  being  a  foneign 
product,  31 :  the  remedy  for  the  unnecessary  expense  incurred,  31 ;  the  ad- 
vantages of  diverting  labor  from  Commerce  to  Production,  31 ;  the  proposed 
distribution  recommended  solely  for  the  public  good,  32  ;  the  Free  Trade  er- 
roneous interpretation  of  this  policy  explained,  32 ;  great  economy  which  has 
resulted  from  naturalizing  products,  33;  unfair  action  of  Free-Traders  in 
quoting  prices  at  the  seaboard,  33 ;  illustrations  thereof,  33 ;  assumptions  by 
Free-Traders  that  we  force  the  sale  of  inferior  goods  replied  to,  34  ;  their  en- 
tire variance  with  history,  34 ;  writings  and  speeches  of  eminent  Americans 
referred  to,  34 ;  their  advocacy  of  Protection  solely  in  the  interests  of  Agri- 
culture, 34  ;  Manufactures  unknown  or. of  very  limited  extent  at  the  time,  34  ; 
the  occupations  of  the  people  in  these  years,  34 ;  the  main  considerations 
which  governed  the  early  champions  of  Protection,  34;  General  Jackson's 
letter  to  Dr.  Coleman,  34 ;  perishable  field  products  require  a  near  market,  36 ; 
the  effect  of  the  cost  of  transportation  on  the  price  of  Indian-corn,  36;  the 
price  of  corn  not  governed  by  foreign  tariffs,  37  ;  the  profits  of  farming  in- 
creased by  manufactures,  37 ;  the  Free  Trade  cavil  about  indiscriminate  Pro- 
tection, 37;  the  practical  considerations  to  betaken  into  account,  38;  the 
mission  of  Commerce,  39  ;  the  New  York  Merchants  memorialize  Congress  for 
protective  measures  to  save  our  Commerce  from  ruin,  1817,  63 ;  the  Free  Trade 
statements  that  a  nation  always  Imports  wisely  considered,  131 :  that  the  best 
distribution  of  Labor  is  caused  thereby,  131 ;  practical  operation  of  this  prin- 
ciple, 131 ;  our  foreign  debt  at  the  sacrifice  of  national  interests,  132;  a  lavish 
increase  of  Imports  leads  to  depression  and  calamity,  132 ;  cooperation  in  rela- 


360  ANALYTICAL  INDEX. 

tion  to  Commerce,  273;  machinery  of  Distribution  defective,  274;  pernicious 
effects  of  Traffic  on  Industry,  274 ;  illustration  thereof,  274 ;  Parke  Godwin 
on  Commerce,  275  ;  its  true  mission  and  relations,  276 ;  the  chief  end  of  a  true 
Political  Economy,  282 ;  Commerce  should  be  the  servant,  not  the  master,  of 
Industry,  338 ;  its  place  in  a  true  Political  Economy,  338. 

COMMERCE  (Foreign) :  220. 

COMMONS  (British  House  of):  327. 

COMPETITION  :  home,  reduces  profits  to  an  equation  with  those  of  general  Indus- 
try ,  32 ;  circumstances  in  which  it  is  neither  just  nor  beneficent,  38 ;  a  fra- 
ternal feeling  should  take  the  place  <£  344. 

COMPETITORS  (British) :  219. 

CONCLUSIONS  (analysis  of) :  Labor  less  remunerated  when  materials  are  trans- 
ported long  distances  for  fabrication,  336 ;  our  policy  regarding  diversified 
production,  337 ;  the  object  of  a  true  Political  Economy,  337 ;  Commerce 
should  be  the  servant,  not  the  master,  of  Industry,  338 ;  the  loss  from  ex- 
changes, 338 ;  the  Free  Trade  view  of  the  matter  considered,  339  ;  conse- 
quences of  dependence  on  foreign  supplies,  340  ;  Free  Trade  idea  of  cheapness 
delusive,  341 ;  illustrations  thereof,  341 ;  Protection  equivalent  to  Labor- 
Saving  through  Cooperation,  341 ;  Protection  stimulates  valuable  industries 
and  serves  all,  342 ;  it  enhances  the  value  of  Agricultural  Staples  and  reduces 
the  cost  of  Manufactures,  343 ;  maintains  remunerative  wages  for  Labor,  343 ; 
continuance  on  that  ground  desirable,  343 ;  evils  of  competition  and  commer- 
cial strife,  344  ;  rights  of  the  Laboring  class,  345  ;  Free  Trade  opposition  to 
Trades  Unions,  345 ;  the  necessity  for  Association,  345  ;  Cooperation,  as  the 
next  great  progressive  measure,  346  ;  its  ultimate  success  inevitable,  346 ;  its 
immense  advantages,  346 ;  influence  of  its  success,  347  ;  losses  entailed  by 
lack  of  industrial  training,  348  ;  continued  evil  influence  of  idle  habits,  348  ; 
industrial  education  secured  by  diversifying  pursuits,  348 ;  Protection  to  La- 
bor, under  various  forms  essential,  349;  folly  of  National  industrial  inde- 
pejidence  being  controlled  by  cheapness,  349  ;  inconsistency  of  the  Free-Trad- 
ers' propositions  respecting  a  Revenue  Tariff,  350  ;  Protection  favored  by  our 
great  men,  in  the  interests  of  Agriculture,  350 ;  their  policy,  351 ;  false  appli- 
<cation  of  the  word  Monopoly,  351 ;  Protection  in  American  History,  352 ;  the 
West  and  New  England  in  regard  to  Protective  Tariffs  352  ;  Iron,  Lumber, 
Salt,  352 ;  the  great  Immigration  since  Manufactures  were  established,  352  ; 
Population  tends  to  abandon  Agricultural  regions,  353 ;  existence  of  Manufac- 
tures indispensable  to  steady  and  extensive  Immigration,  353  ;  the  triumphs 
of  Protection  in  former  epochs ,  353  ;  periods  of  prostration  and  disaster  due  to 
the  Free  Trade  policy,  353  ;  Mr.  Clay  on  the  interval  between  1824-32,  354. 

CONGRESS  :  the,  of  1860-61  enacted  a  Protective  Tariff,  25  =  63  =  ;  action  of, 
on  General  Washington's  First  Message,  110  =  144  =  147  =  215  =  239  =309 
=  329. 

CONNECTICUT  :  47  =  133  =  134  =  152  =  252  =  340  =  341. 

CONSTANTINOPLE:  23. 

CONSTITUTION  :  provision  in  the  Federal,  respecting  private  property,  53  ;  Fede- 
ral, 234  =  247. 

CONSUMERS  :  all  Producers  and  Consumers  in  turn,  171 :  have  all  identical  inter- 
ests, 171 ;  demonstration  thereof,  171 ;  its  general  applicability,  172  ;  miscon- 
ception of  interests,  172 ;  see  IRON  and  SUGAR  for  further  explanation  and 
proof  that  Protection  is  a  boon  to  the  Consumer. 

CONVENTION  (the  New  York  Constitutional) :  230. 

COOPERATION  :  the  whaling  industry,  89  ;  other  cooperative  enterprises,  89 ; 
their  experimental  character,  90  ;  possibility  of  modification  if  they  fail,  90  ; 


ANALtTICAL  INDEX.  361 

evidences  thereof,  90  ;  the  power  of  associated  capital,  90 ;  the  prospects  of 
Labor,  90  ;  conditions  for  the  success  of  the  cooperative  principle,  91 ;  the 
value  of  one  successful  scheme,  91 ;  the  evil  influence  of  Competition,  91 ;  de- 
fect of  the  Wages  system  in  regard  to  Cooperation,  91 ;  Louis  Blanc  on  Com- 
petition. 93  ;  the  correctness  of  his  remarks  vindicated  in  the  United  States, 
93  ;  the  vast  progress  of  the  present  age  in  material  production,  273;  neces- 
sity for  cooperation,  273,  274  ;  machinery  of  distribution  defective,  274:  il- 
lustration thereof,  274  ;  Parke  Godwin  on  Commerce,  275  ;  the  object  of  Co- 
operation in  Trade,  276  ;  the  losses  to  society  from  the  unnecessary  number 
engaged  in  exchanges,  277  ;  Cooperation  vindicated  by  experience,  278  ;  the 
organization  of  the  Rochdale  Equitable  Pioneers,  278  ;  their  progress,  278  ; 
their  system,  280;  cash  payment  essential,  281;  general  effect  of  Coopera- 
tion, 281;  the  further  development  of  Cooperation  in  trade,  282;  the  rela- 
tions between  Cooperation  and  Protection,  283 ;  organization  of  Labor  on  a 
Cooperative  basis,  284;  progress  of  Cooperation  in  France,  284:  in  Austria, 
284 ;  schemes  for  industrial  association  in  the  United  States,  285  ;  the  obsta- 
cles to  its  development  here,  286 ;  the  advantages  to  be  realized,  286 ;  its  aim, 
346  ;  success  inevitable,  346  ;  the  economy  to  be  realized  by  it,  346. 

COOPER  (Dr.) :  predicting  National  Bankruptcy,  249. 

COPPER  :  231,  241. 

CORN  Laws :  the  British,  in  relation  to  the  market  for  American  produce,  36. 

CORN  (Indian) :  36 ;  its  relative  value  in  near  and  distant  markets,  37 ;  effect  of 
the  cost  of  transportation  on,  46  =  105  =  137  =  139  =  148  =  217  ;  price  in 
1825,  218. 

CORN-ING  (Erastus,  &  Co.):  103. 

COST  :  the  effect  of  Duties  on,  illustrated,  103  ;  general  propositions  on  the  sub- 
ject, 104 ;  home  production  the  cheapest,  105 ;  domestic  competition  sufficient 
to  regulate  cost,  105  ;  cost  of  production  the  general  measure  of  price,  106. 

COSTA  RICA  :  26. 

COSSACKS  :  191. 

COTTOX  :  Indian,  sent  to  England  and  returned  in  the  shape  of  fabrics,  45  =  105, 
235  =  331,  price  of,  in  1825,  218 ;  decrease  in  the  production  of,  224  =  235  = 
321,  331  =  336  =  338  =  339. 

Cox,  S.  S. :  305. 

CREDIT:  general  confidence  felt  in  the  progress  of  the  country,  233  ;  the  ten- 
dency to  run  into  debt,  233  ;  individual  credit  used  to  excess  in  this  country, 
234 ;  extent  of  our  foreign  indebtedness  at  the  outset  of  our  Civil  War,  234 ; 
continued  increase,  234  ;  its  present  extent,  235  ;  the  necessary  excess  of  Ex- 
ports over  Imports,  235;  increase  in  our  national  wealth,  236;  the  present 
Paper  currency,  236  ;  its  effect  on  Manufactures,  237  ;  the  National  Debt,  238  ; 
the  most  prudent  policy  to  pursue,  238  ;  the  Revenue  Tariff  question,  239 ; 
our  financial  policy,  240  ;  payment  of  the  National  Debt,  240  ;  Tariff  legis- 
lation, 240  ;  reduction  of  taxation  on  Whiskey,  Tobacco,  &c.,  241 ;  Develop- 
ment of  Domestic  Industry,  241 ;  the  present  high  prices,  242  ;  indiscrimi- 
nate tendency  to  incur  debt,  242 ;  Repudiation  worse  than  Secession,  243 ; 
importance  of  having  the  people  remuneratively  employed,  244  ;  increase  in 
our  Manufactures,  244  ;  Agriculture  as  affected  by  Manufactures,  245. 

CROSBY  (Dr.) :  153. 

CUBA:  337. 

CULLOM  (Hon.  S.  M.):  206. 

CURRENCY  (Paper):  see  MONET. 

CURRENCY  (irredeemable; :  its  effect  on  prices,  236;  Injurious  to  ManuActuras, 
237 ;  sec  MONEY. 

10 


362  ANALYTICAL  INDEX. 

CUT-NAILS  :  47  =  343. 

CYCLOPAEDIA  (Appleton's) :  223  =  308. 

DACCA  (The  District  of) :  164. 

DAGUERRE  :  52. 

DALLAS  (Alexander  J.):  Reports  in  favor  of  the  Tariff  of  1816,  117:  his  re- 
marks, 117. 

DARIEN  (Isthmus  of) :  26,  231. 

DEBT  (Foreign):  probable  amount  of  the  American  to  Europe,  235;  still  in- 
creasing, 236. 

DEBT  (Public) :  gold  and  silver  might  be  wisely  retained  to  pay  off  our,  32  ;  the 
Public,  should  be  the  basis  of  an  exclusively  Paper  Currency,  74  =  231  =  ; 
the  Public  Debt  no  blessing,  238  ;  the  importance  of  funding  it,  238 ;  means  of 
doing  so,  238  ;  our  best  policy  in  regard  to  the,  240  ;  the  baseness  of  Repudi- 
ation, 243 ;  the  War  Debt  of  the  country,  270. 

DOMBASLE,  M.  :  190. 

DELAINES  :  154,  343. 

DELAWARE  :  134,  274. 

DELAWARE  (the  River) :  225. 

DELAVAN(EdwardC.):  103. 

DENMARK:  312,313. 

DETROIT:  173. 

DEYEUX  (M.):  190. 

DILLON  (John) :  328  =  329  =  334. 

DUTIES  :  Specific  and  Ad  Valorem  defined,  323  ;  the  nature  of  a  minimum,  323  ; 
the  introduction  and  operation  of  the  minimum  principle,  323  ;  the  cardinal 
objection  to  Ad  Valorem  duties,  324  ;  iron-masters  of  Pennsylvania  on  the 
working  of  the  Ad  Valorem  Tariff  of  1846  (1849),  325  ;  fluctuating  prices  of 
foreign  iron ,325 ;  their  injurious  effect  on  American  industry,  326;  specific 
duties  strongly  preferred  in  Europe,  327 ;  the  operation  of  specific  rates  in 
the  Zoll-Verein  Tariff,  327  ;  evidence  of  Mr.  John  Dillon  on  levying  duties 
by  weight  and  Ad  Valorem,  328  ;  Hon.  James  Thompson's  treatment  of  the 
Tariff  question,  329;  why  the  minimum  principle  is  required,  331 ;  British 
negotiations  for  the  French  Treaty  of  1860,  332 ;  the  French  reject  the  Ad 
Valorem  principle,  332  ;  the  operation  of  specific  duties,  333  ;  a  British  view 
of  the  French  tariff  analyzed,  334  ;  the  most  advisable  course  to  pursue  in  fix- 
ing duties,  334  ;  the  importance  of  discouraging  the  importation  of  worthless 
and  inferior  goods,  335. 

DUTIES  ON  IMPORTS  :  total  receipts  from  each  year  from  1820  to  1828,  inclusive, 

O^Q          r*  Qfi 
/id  =  idb. 

DUREAU  (M.  B.):  199. 

EARLL  (Jonas):  252. 

EAST  (The) :  286  =  311. 

EASTERN  STATES  (The) :  138. 

EATON  (Hon.  John  H.):  135  =  ;  votes  for  the  Tariff  of  1828,  253. 

EDINBURGH  REVIEW  :  192. 

EDUCATION  (Popular) :  Public  Lands  devoted  to,  53. 

EMBARGO:  with  War,  a  precarious  shelter  to  our  manufactures  in  1812-14,  62. 

ENGLAND  :  28 ;  reference  to  the  value  of  Indian-corn  in,  37  ;  her  fabrics  thrown 
in  immense  quantities  on  our  markets,  1812-14,  62,  =  89  =  ;  her  sacrifices  to 
destroy  American  manufacturing  Industry,  93;  evidences  thereof,  93  =  152  = 
164  =  168  =  175  =  198  =  208  =  226  =  230  =  260  =  303  =  314  =  349. 

EQUITABLE  PIONEERS  :  =  89  =  280  =  281. 

EDEOPE:  penetrated  by  the  Saracens,  16;  serfdom  destroyed  in,  by  diversified 


ANALYTICAL  INDEX.  363 

industry,  16,  28,  34 ;  its  markets  remote  and  unremunerative  for  Canadian 
manufactures,  38;  prodigious  progress  of  invention  in,  45;  her  indebtedness 
to  American  invention,  47  ;  beaten  in  seme  branches  of  industry  by  American 
skill,  47  ;  Hamilton's  antagonists  desired  to  have  our  workshops  in,  46;  ulti- 
mate effect  of  industrial  dependence  on,  46  =  48  =  ;  coinage  of  Europe,  57 ; 
relative  cheapness  of  Capital  in  Western,  78  ;  the  elements  of  manufacture 
cheaper  in,  than  here,  78  ;  slavery,  82 :  iron-makers  attracted  hither,  99  = 
138  =  146  =  148  =  158 :  peasantry  of  =  171  =  172  =  174  =  175  =  195  =  211 
219  =  226  =  231  =  234  =  235  =  236  =  241  =  242 ;  Western,  287,  300  303 
306,  311,  318,  322,  338,  340,  343,  344. 
EXPORTS  :  the  nature  of  our,  234  =  235  =  236  ;  annual  aggregate  from  1817  -  32, 

EXPOSITION  (Paris) :  209  =  297  =  299. 

FABRICS  :  29, 134, 136, 138, 147, 152, 153, 154, 157, 172, 234, 245  =  249, 283, 322, 343. 

FABRICS  (Cotton) :  the  Tariff  of  1842  and  cotton  fabrics,  102,  =  106 ;  the  com- 
mittee on  Commerce  and  Manufactures  report  in  favor  of  an  increase  of  the 
duties  on,  1816, 115  ;  rates  on,  in  the  Tariff  of  1816, 117  =  323  =  324 

FLAX  :  336. 

FLOUR:  236. 

FORWARD  (Walter) :  34, 136  = 

FRANCE  :  48,  111 ;  the  Milan,  112  =  114  =  150  =  151  =  152  =  175  =  189  =  190 
192  =  193  =  194  =  195  =  196  =  199  =  200  =  204  =  206  =  207  =  208  =  209 
=  210  =  233  =  242  =284  =  288  =298  =  311  =  313  =  314  =  320  =  334  =  342. 

FRANKLIN  (Benjamin):  90;  on  the  interdependence  of  Agriculture  and  Home 
Manufactures,  139. 

FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  :  188. 

FREE  TRADE  :  regarded  by  the  South  as  in  harmony  with  Slavery,  24  ;  evasions 
of  the  true  issue  made  by  advocates  of  Free  Trade,  30  ;  the  Free  Trade  fallacy 
that  it  affords  the  farmer  the  choice  of  two  markets,  36 ;  the  Free  Trade  doc- 
trine limiting  taxation  to  "maintain  law  and  order,"  120;  wise  deviation 
from  it  in  regard  to  Chicago  and  New  York,  121 ;  beneficial  result,  121 ;  the 
City  of  New  York  as  evidence,  121 ;  the  present  arguments  of  Free-Traders 
employed  against  the  Canal  policy  of  New  York,  128  ;  Adam  Smith's  state- 
ment that  the  employment  each  one  prospers  in  is  the  best  for  the  commu- 
nity, 128;  fallacious  and  mistaken,  129;  demonstration  thereof,  129;  Free 
Trade  doctrine  as  set  forth  in  the  petition  of  the  London  Merchants,  129 ; 
its  essential  propositions  quoted,  130 ;  its  first  assumption  involving  the 
dictum  of  Adam  Smith,  130  ;  the  error  therein,  131 ;  the  statement  that  a 
country  always  imports  wisely,  131  ;  that  the  best  distribution  of  Labor  and 
Capital  is  thus  caused,  131  ;  practical  operation  of  this  principle,  131 ;  our 
accumulated  foreign  Debt  at  the  sacrifice  of  national  interests,  132  ;  a  lavish 
increase  of  imports  leads  to  depression  and  calamity,  132  ;  had  always  a 
strong  party  in  Congress,  133,  =  139  =  271  =  278  =  317  ;  the  Free  Trade 
appeal  to  the  Working  Classes,  161 ;  quotation  from  McCulloch  to  the  effect 
thereof,  162  ;  the  radical  vice  in  their  view,  162  ;  testimony  of  Dr.  Bowring, 
in  refutation  of  Mr.  McCulloch's  theory,  163  ;  effects  of  competition  in  In- 
dia, 163 ;  Free  Trade  sets  the  Laboring  Class  of  different  countries  bidding 
against  and  underworking  each  other,  169  ;  theory  and  policy  of  Free-Trad- 
ers not  in  accord  with  the  Golden  Rule,  170  =  332  ;  the  Free  Trade  idea  of 
cheapness  delusive,  340. 

FREE-TRADER  (newspaper) :  The,  209. 

FREE-TRADERS  :  240,  251 ;  inconsistent  in  favoring  a  Revenue  Tariff,  849 ;  illus- 
trations of  the  unsoundness  of  their  position,  349. 


364  ANALYTICAL  INDEX. 

FRENCH  (B.F.):  325. 
FRUITS  :  243  =  244  =  252  =  274. 
FUEL:  2^2. 

FULTON  (Robert) :  125  =  126. 
GALILEO:  278. 
GASPARIN  (M.  de) :  207. 
GENESEE  (County) :  137. 
GEORGIA:  134  =  168  =  252  =  272. 

GERMANY  :  189  =  192  =  204  =  205  =  207  =  288  =  311  =  313  =  314  =  320  =  353. 
GINGHAMS  :  343. 
GIRARD  (Stephen) :  20. 
GLASS:  343. 
GODINOFF  (Boris) :  81. 
GODWIN  (Mr.  Parke) :  on  Commerce,  275. 

GOLD:  regarded  as  Money  at  an  early  period,  56;  its  qualities,  56;  originally 
valued  and  transferred  by  -weight,  56 ;  supply  of,  increased  in  Europe  by  the 
discovery  of  America,  61 ;  the  Free  Trade  assumption  that  a  country  may  part 
with  half  its  specie  without  serious  harm,  61 ;  drainage  of  specie  in  conse- 
quence of  the  excessive  importations,  1815-24,  64;  effects  thereof,  64;  an  ex- 
clusively specie  currency  in  California,  69,  241,  310,  321. 
GRAIN  :  138  =  149  =  234  =  236  =  243  =  260. 
GRANT  (E.  B.):  197. 
GRAPE:  241. 

GREAT  BRITAIN  :  productive  capacity  of  her  machinery,  45  ;  competes  with  the 
Labor  of  Eastern  Asia,  45  =  62  =  ;  extends  her  trade  over  the  globe,  62,  =  72 
=  93  =  ;  British  monarchs  grant  monopolies,  95 ;    her  arbitrary  Orders  in 
Council,  111;  War  with,  113;  the  close  of,  114  =  126  =  137  =  151  =  152  = 
163  =  173  =  225  =  230  =  238  =  238  =  242  =  259  =  280  =  288  =  294  =  298 
=  301  =  311  =  313  =  314  =  320  =  336  =  353. 
GREENCASTLE  :  173  =  244. 
GREENLAND:  192. 
GREELEY  (Horace):  330. 
GROCERIES:  234. 
GUADALOUPE:  209. 
GUARDIAN  (Manchester),  The :  303. 

IlAMttTON  (Hon.  Alexander) :  reference  to  his  Report  on  Manufactures,  34  =  46  ; 
as  one  of  the  Fathers,  109  ;  his  Report  on  Manufactures,  1791,  109  ;  extract 
therefrom,  on  the  national  economy  of  establishing  home  manufactures,  305. 
HANOVER:  316. 
HARDWARE  :  139. 

HARLAN  AND  HOLLINGS WORTH  Co. :  230. 
HAROUN  AL  RASCHID  :  empire  of  allusion,  16. 
HARRISON  (Governor) :  124. 
HAVANA:  231,236. 
HAY  :  200. 
HAYTI:  237. 
HEMP  :  231,  336. 

HERALD  (The  New  Haven) :  prophecies  of,  253. 
HEWITT  (Abram  S.) :  174. 
IIoBBiE(S.  E.):  252. 
HOFFMAN  (Michael) :  252. 
HOLLAND  :  233  =  311  =  313  =  320. 
HOMER:  274. 


ANALYTICAL  INDEX.  365 

HOOD  (Admiral) :  188. 

HOPS:  106. 

HowE(Klias):  50,319. 

HUDSON  (The  River) :  225. 

HUNGARY  :  314. 

HUME  (Joseph) :  93  =  327. 

HOSKISSON  :  130. 

IDAHO  :  322. 

ILLINOIS  :  37  =  134  =  137  =  152  =  152  =  174  =  244. 

IMMIGRATION  :  Population  the  main  element  of  national  strength  ,306;  the  pros- 
pect of  gain  the  main  incentive  to  Immigration ,  306  ;  Immigration  inconsider- 
able while  the  country  was  mainly  agricultural,  307  ;  Redemption  system,  its 
objectionable  and  redeeming  features,  307 ;  density  of  Population  not  an  in- 
variable cause  of  Immigration,  308 ;  population  tends  to  abandon  Agricultural 
regions,  308 ;  selects  those  more  densely  peopled  where  labor  is  diversified, 
308  ;  the  number  of  Immigrants  in  the  Free  Trade  and  exclusively  Agricul- 
tural period  small,  309 ;  the  Immigration  prior  to  1794,  308  ;  its  extent  from 
1796  to  1810,  309 ;  number  of  passengers  who  arrived  at  the  ports  of  the  United 
States  from  1820  to  1855,  309  ;  the  immense  immigration  a  direct  consequence 
of  the  establishment  and  growth  of  our  home  manufactures,  310  ;  contrast 
of  the  Immigration  during  the  Agricultural  and  Manufacturing  era,  310 ; 
causes  influencing  Population  in  New  England,  311 ;  the  immigration  by 
countries.  1820-60,  311,  312;  the  immigration  of  1856-68,  312;  the  immi- 
gration by  countries,  313  ;  1'rederick  Kapp  on  the  influence  of  political  and 
commercial  convulsions  on  European  migration ,  313 ;  the  property  brought 
by  immigrants,  313;  importance  of  the  quality  of  Immigration,  314;  im- 
provement in  the  industrial  character  of  our  Immigrants,  317 ;  favorable  in- 
fluence of  the  existence  of  Manufactures  on  Immigration,  319 ;  losses  entailed 
on  France  by  the  persecuting  policy  of  Louis  XIV.,  320 ;  Free  Trade  advocates 
on  the  relative  condition  of  the  Laboring  Class  in  England  and  in  the  United 
States,  320  ;  disproved  by  the  fact  of  Immigration,  320;  Immigration  in  the 
future,  321 ;  the  increasing  inducements  offered  to  Immigrants,  321  j  the 
illimitable  demand  for  Labor,  322. 

IMMIGRATION  (Mongolian) :  83. 

IMPLEMENTS  :  134. 

IMPORTS  :  the  relation  our  Imports  should  bear  to  our  Exports,  235  =  251 :  the 
Imports,  1817-32,  259 ;  imports  from  England  and  Scotland,  1821  -33,  260. 

INDIA  :  allusion  to,  as  a  tea-growing  country,  30 ;  her  traffic  with  England,  45  ; 
her  true  industrial  policy,  45  =  61  =  ;  emigration  from,  83  =  163. 

INDIANA:  134;  relative  production,  19;  little  wealth  produced  in,  save  by  men's 
labor,  19  =  173  =  244  =  252. 

INDUSTRY:  beneficent  influence  of,  15;  the  influence  of  industrious  habits,  15; 
criminals  and  reprobates  produced  by  idleness,  15;  diversified,  undermined, 
and  destroyed  serfdom  in  Europe,  16  ;  industrial  training  should  be  made 
general,  17 ;  lack  of  it  the  greatest  cause  of  calamity  and  loss,  17 ;  advantages 
of  such  training,  17  ;  national  loss  from  involuntary  idleness,  18;  diversified 
industry  essential  to  the  employment  of  a  whole  community,  18;  a  people 
who  have  but  a  single  source  of  profit  uniformly  poor,  19 ;  its  inability  to 
employ  and  reward  various  capacities,  19  ;  importance  of  a  divcr«Hv  of  pur- 
suits, 19  ;  illustrations,  the  once  District  of  Maine,  19  ;  some  districts  of  the 
Russian  Empire,  19  ;  the  relative  production  of  Massachusetts,  North  Caro- 
lina, and  Indiana,  19  ;  the  disparity  removable  by  introducing  Manufactures, 
19  ;  the  almost  exclusive  employment  of  men's  labor  in  South  Carolina  and 


366 


ANALYTICAL  INDEX. 


Indiana,  19  ;  the  impulse  to  labor,  19  ;  our  indebtedness  to  the  labor  of  past 
generations,  20;  beneficent  influence  of  industry  on  the  moral  character,  20; 
Nature  inflexible  and  undeviating  in  her  demands,  20  ;  Carlyle  on  Work,  20 ; 

-  Work  an  evidence  of  the  value  and  necessity  of  integrity  and  truth,  20 ;  Rev. 
W.  E.  Channing  on  the  beneficence  of  labor,  21 ;  observation  of  Ross  Browne 
in  the  Holy  Land,  22  ;  absence  of  industry  in  Palestine  explained,  23;  few 
manufactures  there,  23 ;  the  people  impoverished,  23 ;  effects  of  Turkish  fiscal 
system  on  home  industry,  23  ;  the  lazzaroni  of  Naples,  23  ;  the  controlling 
influences  at  the  South,  25  ;  the  development  and  employment  of  the  peeple's 
industrial  capacity,  25  ;  fatal  effects  of  undiversified  industry,  25,  Traffic  pre- 
ferred to  Productive  Industry,  27  ;  home  competition  equalizes  the  profits  of 
general  National  Industry,  32;  its  need  of  defence,  38 ;  Capital  the  uncon- 
sunied  and  unwasted  remainder  of,  40  ;  the  proposition  that  'Industry  is  lim- 
ited by  Capital  considered,  43;  the  object  of  Industry,  44;  influence  of  the 
progress  of  American,  49  ;  whatever  induces  and, incites  systematic  industry 
a  public  good,  54  ;  Money  in  connection  with  industry,  54 ;  the  incentive  it 
affords,  56  ;  productive  industry  as  a  means  of  advancement  referred  to,  68 
=  77  =  ;  the  dearuess  of  Capital  impedes  our  National,  78  ;  importance  of  har- 
monizing the  interests  of  the  employer  and  employed,  86 ;  the  whaling  indus- 
try on  a  cooperative  basis,  89 ;  prostration  of  our  manufacturing  industry  by 
competition,  93 ;  collapse  of  our  industry  in  1840  -  42,  93 ;  our  National,  235 ; 
Manufacturing  and  Mechanical,  243  =  260  =  ;  Cooperation  in,  273 ;  suffers 
from  Traffic,  274;  the  calamity  entailed  by  idleness,  348  ;  extent  of  its  evil 
influences,  348 ;  the  need  of  industrial  education  for  all,  348  ;  secured  by  di- 
versity of  pursuits,  348. 

INTELLECTUAL  PROPERTY  :  its  rights,  49 ;  compared  with  those  of  material,  49 ; 
illustration  of  same,  49  ;  Thiers  on  the  Right  of  Property,  50 ;  the  sphere  of 
the  poet  compared  with  that  of  the  inventor,  5U  ;  restrictions  upon  the  in- 
ventor's ri^ht  of  Property,  50 ;  the  rights  of  author  and  publisher  distinct, 
61  •  International  Copyright  and  patriotism,  51 ;  effects  of  the  absence  of  In 
ternational  Copyright,  51 ;  Walter  Scott  a  sufferer  for  want  of  International 
Copyright,  52  ;  abolition  of  the  Patent  system  in  conflict  with  the  rights  of 
Property,  52  ;  objections  answered  respecting  the  perpetuity  of  Patents  and 
Copyright,  52 ;  proposed  arrangement  between  the  government  and  foreign 
authors  53;  its  accordance  with  the  Federal  Constitution,  53. 

INTEREST  :  the  ruling  rate  of,  in  California,  69  ;  conditions  on  which  usury 
laws  mi-ht  be  modified,  70  ;  the  argument  that  interest  is  unjust  considered, 
70 ;  the  benefit  of  recognizing  the  rightfulness  of  interest,  71 ;  the  nature  of 
interest  explained,  79  ;  effect  of  creating  an  artificial  rate  of,  80 ;  the  annual 
interest  on  our  indebtedness  to  Europe,  235 ;  on  our  National  Debt,  238 ;  how 
to  reduce  the  rate,  233. 

IOWA  :  37. 

IOWA  CITY:  36  =  37  =  137. 

IRELAND  :  140  =  311  =  313  =  315  =  352. 

IRON  :  unfair  comparisons  in  the  price  of,  33  ;  produced  largely  in  the  interior, 
33;  an  instance  of  cost  enhanced  by  transportation,  33  ;  improvements  in 
the  production  of,  48  ;  misapplication  of  the  word  "monopoly"  to  the  manu- 
facture thereof,  96 ;  views  of  a  Missouri  representative  on  the  tariff  rate  on 
Iron,  98,  99  ;  the  facilities  for  its  production,  99  ;  inconsistency  between  the 
teachings  and  practice  of  Free-Traders  in  regard  to  Iron,  100;  competition 
therein,  stimulated  by  profit,  108  =  139  =  147;  real  cost  of  American  Iron 
less  to  American  consumers  than  that  of  foreign,  150;  the  Sterling  Iron 
mines,  151;  Copake  Iron  mines,  152;  propositions  to  import  Iron  con- 


ANALYTICAL  INDEX.  367 

sidered,  172;  evidence  of  progress  in  Iron  production,  173;  price  of  Foreign 
Iron  enhanced  under  the  Revenue  Tariff  of  1846,174;  Labor  the  principal 
item  in  the  cost  of  the  production  of  Iron,  174 ;  the  relative  cost  of  production 
of  Bar  Iron  here  and  abroad,  175;  Hon.  D.  J.  Morrell  on  the  future  of  our 
Iron  industry,  175  ;  extract  from  the  report  of  Abram  S.  Hewitt  showing  the 
share  Labor  has  in  the  production  of  Iron  and  its  influence  on  the  cost  of 
production,  177  ;  the  same  Report  on  the  condition  of  the  working  classes  ia 
England,  178  :  reasons  why  we  should  prefer  buying  our  own  manufactured 
products  instead  of  European,  179 ;  Free  Trade  statements  respecting  alleged 
claims  for  greater  Protection,  179 ;  the  Protective  Tariff  rates  on  Iron  from 
1824-61,  180;  Free  Trade  misrepresentations  about  the  duty  on  Pig  Iron, 
180  ;  production  of  Pig  Iron  in  the  United  States,  1863-68,  181 ;  do.  in  Great 
Britain,  1863.- 65,  181;  do.  in  France,  181;  do.  in  Austria,  181;  our  Iron 
Imports  in  1838,  182  ;  evasions  of  the  Tariff  made  evident,  183;  the  price  of 
Iron  measured  by  the  cost  of  production,  184;  effects  of  instability  in  the 
Tariff,  185 ;  Iron  in  connection  with  Ship-building,  216;  great  facilities  for 
Iron  Production,  217;  our  wisest  policy  in  regard  to  Iron,  218;  the  Protec- 
tion extended  to  Iron  unsteady,  218:  Iron  cheapened  by  Protection,  218; 
price  of  Pig  Iron,  Corn,  AVheat,  and  Cotton,  1825,  218 ;  Free  Trade  misrepre- 
sentations in  regard  to  Iron  explained,  219 ;  the  mistake  of  expecting  foreign 
Iron  at  a  fixed  price,  219  ;  Sir  Morton  Peto  on  American  Ship-building,  224 ; 
Iron  Ship-building  on  the  Delaware,  230;  the  deceptive  representations  as  re- 
specting the  Tariff  rates  on  Iron,  237;  advantages  of  increasing  its  produc- 
tion, 241 ;  r;ipU  development  of  our  manufacturing  Industry,  244  ;  Iron  re- 
ferred to  in  connection  with  the  pernicious  working  of  Ad  Valorem  Duties, 
324 ;  the  Iron-masters  of  Pennsylvania  on  the  operation  of  the  Tariff,  1846, 
=  325;  the  fluctuating  prices  of  foreign  Iron,  325;  the  injurious  effects,  326; 
Protection  and  the  prices  of  Iron,  327 ;  Hon.  James  Thompson  and  the  duty 
on  Iron,  329  =  341  =  343  =  349  =  352. 

ISLE  OF  DOGS  :  227. 

ISRAELITES  :  47. 

ITALY  :  288  =  312  =  313  =  314. 

JACKSON  (General) :  letter  to  Dr.  Colcman,  34  =  134  =  135  =  212  =  252  =  351. 

JAPAN  :  allusion  to,  as  a  tea-growing  country,  30  =  31  =  186  =  231. 

JEFFERSON  (President):  as  one -of  the  fathers,  109;  a  farmer,  110;  on  the  le- 
gitimate objects  of  the  Federal  Government,  111 ;  on  the  maintenance  of 
Protection,  111 ;  on  the  progress  and  Protection  of  Manufactures,  112  =  120 
=  351. 

JOHNSOX  (Col.  Richard  M.) :  votes  for  Tariff  of  1828,  253. 

JOHNSON'  (Dr.  Samuel) :  187. 

KANSAS  :  55  ;  proposed  Industrial  Association  in,  90. 

KELLOGG  (Kd'.vard):  his  plan  for  an  exclusively  Paper  Currency,  75;  his  view 
of  t'.ie  Monopoly  of  Money,  75;  proposal  for  its  remedy,  75;  his  proposed 
Safety  Fund  Note,  76  =  79. 

KENNEDY  (Joseph  C.  G.) :  287  =  290. 

KENTUCKY  :  intolerable  pressure  of  Debt  in,  following  the  war  of  1812  - 14,  63 
=  134  =  252. 

KoriAN :  The,  23. 

LABOR:  defined,  13;  human  existence  dependent  on  labor,  13  ;  idle  and  im- 
provident tribes  and  classes  disappear,  13 ;  produces  first  food  and  fabrics, 
13 ;  continues  to  minister  to  human  desires,  14  ;  man's  insatiable  desire  for 
wealth,  14  ;  love  of  personal  acquisition  the  mainspring  to  the  achievement 
of  most  material  good,  15 ;  Columbus  as  an  illustration,  15 ;  personal  ad- 


368  ANALYTICAL   INDEX. 

vancement  as  an  incentive  to  continuous  exertion,  15  ;  Man's  natural  love 
of  ease  and  enjoyment  only  overborne  by  incentives  to  labor,  15  ;  security  of 
property  essential  to  the  maintenance  of  civilization,  15 ;  industry  beneficent 
in  its  habitual  influences  and  results,  15 ;  reprobates  and  criminals  the  re- 
sult of  youthful  idleness,  15 ;  industrious  habits  in  youth  a  guaranty  of  a 
moral  and  useful  life,  15  ;  the  fate  of  the  idle,  15  ;  numbers  unable  to  do 
anything  useful,  16;  a  burden  upon  the  community,  16 ;  results  from  want 
of  industrial  training,  16  ;  their  willingness  to  work  of  no  account,  16  ;  in- 
dustrial training  obligatory  with  some  communities  and  rac«s,  16;  no  ex- 
emption on  account  of  condition  or  prospects,  16 ;  the  Saracens  and  Moors 
honored  industry,  16;  different  course  of  the  Turks  and  Arabs,  16;  Greek 
and  Roman  civilization,  as  affected  by  the  avoidance  of  labor,  16  ;  diversifica- 
tion of  industry  destroyed  and  undermined  serfdom  in  Europe,  16 ;  that  con- 
tinent emancipated  through  it  from  ignorance  and  barbarism, '1 7  ;  pauperism 
and  its  attendant  evils  can  only  be  banished  by  industrial  training,  17  ;  ought 
to  be  made  general,  17  ;  even  as  a  resource,  17  ;  idleness  and  inefficiency  in- 
flict the  greatest  calamities,  17 ;  the  cause  of  this  idleness  and  inefficiency, 
17  ;  one  tenth  of  our  people  habitually  idle,  18  ;  the  cause,  18 ;  national  loss 
from  involuntary  idleness,  18  ;  no  dearth  of  employment  for  skilled  workmen, 
18 ;  the  invariable  influence  of  early  laborious  habits,  18  ;  diversified  industry 
essential  to  the  employment  of  a  whole  community.  18  ;  a  people  who  have 
but  a  single  source  of  profit  uniformly  poor,  19 :  its  inability  to  employ  and 
reward  various  capacities,  19  ;  importance  of  a  diversity  of  pursuits,  19  ;  the 
once  District  of  Maine  illustrating  the  same,  19 :  some  districts  of  the  Russian 
Empire,  19  ;  the  relative  productiveness  of  Massachusetts,  North  Carolina, 
and  Indiana,  19 ;  the  almost  exclusive  employment  of  men's  labor  in  the 
latter  States,  19 ;  our  indebtedness  to  the  labor  of  past  generations,  20 :  the 
worker  has  rarely  tune  or  taste  for  crime  or  vice,  20 ;  Nature  profoundly  im- 
bued with  integrity,  20 ;  inflexible  and  undeviating  in  her  demands,  20  ; 
beneficial  influence  of  labor  on  the  moral  character,  20  ;  Work  an  evidence  of 
the  value  and  necessity  of  integrity  and  truth,  20 ;  Thomas  Carlyle  on  Work, 
20 ;  Rev.  W.  E.  Channing  on  the  beneficence  of  labor,  21 ;  observation  of 
Ross  Browne  in  the  Holy  Land,  22 ;  idleness  in  Palestine  accounted  for,  23 ; 
labor  amazingly  cheap  there,  23 ;  few  manufactures  there,  23 ;  the  people 
impoverished,  23;  pernicious  effect  of  the  inequalities  in  Turkish  taxation, 
23 ;  the  lazzaroni  of  Naples,  23  ;  the  course  an  enlightened  policy  would  dic- 
tate, 23  ;  the  extended  influence  of  ample  and  remunerative  employment,  24 ; 
the  South  of  1815-60,  without  intelligent  labor,  25  ;  it  and  Slavery  could  not 
exist  together,  25  ;  a  Protective  Tariff  enacted  in  1861  when  the  Slaveholders 
left  Congress,  25  ;  cheapness  not  an  all-important  consideration  in  a  national 
policy,  25 ;  the  development  and  employment  of  the  industrial  capacity  of  the 
people  paramount,  25 ;  fatal  effects  of  undiversified,  25  ;  MAN  the  noblest 
fruition  of  Labor,  25  ;  no  useless  application  of  Labor  in  contravention  of  nat- 
ural laws  proposed,  29 ;  waste  of  labor  in  connection  with  tea,  31 ;  the  re- 
ward of  labor  increased  by  wise  distribution,  31 ;  civilization  based  on  sys- 
tematic labor,  40  ;  the  just  relation  between  Capital  and  Labor,  43  ;  cheap- 
ness of,  in  Eastern  Asia,  45  ;  unable  to  compete  with  British  products,  45  ; 
what  the  interests  of  labor  demand  in  India,  46  ;  the  foundation  of  the  right 
of  Property,  50  ;  Rights  of  Labor,  reference  to,  51  ;  unemployed  labor  lost 
forever,  56 ;  the  wages  of  labor  depressed  by  the  influx  of  British  goods  at  the 
close  of  the  war  of  1812  - 14, 62  =  78 ;  Labor  in  eager  demand  in  new  settlements, 
81  =  91  =  134  =  ;  Dr.  Lieber's  remarks  on  Labor  considered,  135,  136  = 
138  =  ;  the  two  classes  which  Manufactures  divide  into  and  the  connection 


ANALYTICAL   INDEX.  369 

of  Labor  therewith,  146  ;  where  cheap  Labor  is  most  effective  in  competition, 
147 ;  relative  clearness  of  Labor,  150 ;  the  interests  of  our  artisans  and  artifi- 
cers, 158 :  conflict  between  Labor  and  Capital  disapproved,  159 ;  universal 
industrial  training  approved,  160  ;  Free  Trade  representations  to  the  Labor- 
ing class,  160 ;  J.  R.  McCulloch  quoted,  102;  the  Free  Trade  error  in  regard 
to  Labor,  1C3  ;  its  fallacy  demonstrated,  163  ;  Dr.  Bowring's  testimony,  1C3 ; 
the  decline  of  Kast  Indian  Industry,  164  ;  the  variable  value  of  Labor,  165; 
the  laborer  in  the  contemplation  of  far-seeing  statesmanship,  166  ;  the  perils 
attending  cheap  Labor,  166 ;  Manufactures  increase  the  recompense  of  Agricul- 
tural labor,  167;  illustrations  thereof,  167,168;  the  general  movement  for  in- 
creased wages,  168  ;  how  retarded  by  the  Free  Trade  policy ,  168 ;  the  true  rela- 
tion of  the  laboring  class  of  one  country  to  that  of  another,  170  =  172  =  173 
=  174  =  175  =  199  =  ;  Labor  and  the  Beet  Sugar  Industry  of  France,  £02 ; 
Labor  dearer  in  American  than  in  foreign  Shipyards,  225,  =  236  =  ;  Wages 

[  of  Labor  at  Pacific  Mills,  Lawrence,  Mass.,  301 ;  compared  with  that  paid  in 
England,  301 ;  statistics  of  the  savings  of  the  workpeople  at  Pacific  Mills, 
Lawrence,  Mass  ,  302 ;  beneficial  effect  of  Protection  to  the  Woollen  Indus- 
try, on  Labor,  302  ;  skilled  labor  attracted  here  by  a  Protective  policy,  317  ; 
Free  Trade  allegation  respecting  the  recompense  of  Labor  in  the  United  States 
and  Europe,  320 ;  the  illimitable  demand  for  Labor,  322 ;  less  remunerated 
where  products  are  sent  long  distances  for  fabrication,  336;  suffers  where 
Commerce  controls  Industry,  338;  influence  of  the  cost  of  Labor  on  some 
Manufactures,  343 ;  the  protection  of  these  National  Industries  justifiable  and 
beneficent,  344  ;  Free  Trade  antagonism  to  Trades  Unions,  345;  the  govern- 
ment should  be  vigilant  for  its  Protection,  349  ;  the  false  policy  of  regulating 
our  Industry  by  the  price  of  foreign  products,  349.  See  also  COOPERATION, 
LABORING  CLASS,  SLAVERY,  AND  WAGES. 

LABORING  CLASS  :  want  of  accuracy  in  the  term,  159;  universal  industrial  train- 
ing approved,  159;  labor  more  honorable  than  idleness,  160;  the  Laboring 
Class  as  popularly  known,  160 ;  its  advance  to  political  importance,  161 ;  Free 
Trade  representations  to  the  Laboring  Classes,  161  :  J.  R.  McCulloch  quoted  in 
connection  therewith,  162 ;  the  Free  Trade  error,  162  ;  its  fallacy  demonstrated, 
163;  Dr.  Bowring's  testimony,  163;  the  decliue  of  East  Indian  industry,  163, 
164;  the  variable  value  of  Labor,  165 ;  the  laborer  in  the  contemplation  of  far- 
seeing  statesmanship,  166;  evil  of  cheap  Labor,  167;  Manufactures  increase 
the  recompense  of  Agricultural  Labor,  167 ;  illustrations  of  same,  168 ;  the 
general  movement  for  increased  wages,  168 ;  how  retarded  by  the  Free  Trade 
policy,  169 ;  Carlylc  on  the  peril  of  depending  on  the  product  of  cheap  Labor, 
189 ;  our  duty  to  rising  industries  in  other  lands,  170 ;  the  true  relation  of  the 
laboring  class  of  one  country  to  that  of  another,  170;  see  also  LABOR. 

LANCASHIRE:  308. 

LAND:  one  sixteenth  of  the  public  lands  devoted  to  Popular  Education,  63; 
cheapness  of  land  in  the  United  States,  78. 

LARD:  234. 

LAWRENCE  (Mas?.):  138  =  167  =  300. 

LEGAL  TENDER  (The,  act) :  72. 

LEIPSIC:  191. 

LEVI  (Professor):  on  Earnings  of  Labor,  301. 

LIBERIA  :  344. 

LIEBIG:  319. 

LIBBER  (Dr.  Francis) :  135. 

LILLE,  200. 

:  95  —  173. 

16*  X 


370  ANALYTICAL  INDEX. 

LINCOLN  (President) :  57. 

LIVEHPOOL  :  229,  325. 

LLOYD  (Hon.  James) :  96. 

LOANS  (Government):  72. 

LONDON  :  =  26  =  ;  the  Petition  of  the  Merchants  and  Traders  of,  131  =  139  = 
152  =  227  =  300  =  308. 

LONDONDERRY  (NT.  II.) :  138. 

Louis  XIV. :  319. 

LOUISIANA  :  120  =  134  =  252  =  272. 

LOWELL  -Mass.) :  prices  of  the  cotton  fabrics  of,  in  1842, 103  =  138  =  167. 

LOWNDES  (William,  of  South  Carolina)  :  his  share  in  the  Tariff  of  1816,  and 
character,  116  =  217  =  323. 

LUMBER  :  106  =  352. 

LYONS  :  284. 

MACHINERY  :  322. 

MADISON  i  President) :  as  one  of  the  Fathers,  112 ;  advocates  the  Protection  and 
encouragement  of  native  Manufactures,  112  =  113  =  114  =  351. 

MAGEE  (John)  :  252 

MAINE  :  19  =  30  =  133  =  134  =  225  =  252  =  286. 

MALLAEY  iRollin  C.) :  34  =  135. 

MANCHESTER  (England/ :  331  =  334. 

MANCHESTER  (N.  II.) :  138  =  167. 

MANUFACTURES:  reference  to  Hamilton's  Report  on,  34;  the  establishment  of 
home,  advocated  by  eminent  Americans  for  the  benefit  of  farmers,  34 ;  un- 
known or  very  limited  in  the  early  years  of  the  Republic,  34  ;  British,  in  com- 
petition with  those  of  China  and  India,  45;  manufactures  foster  invention, 
48;  prostrated  by  the  influx  of  British  goods  soon  after  the  war  of  1812-14, 
62  ;  the  New  York  merchants  ask  Congress  for  protective  measures  to  save  our 
manufactures  from  ruin,  63;  the  progress  of  American,  impeded  by  the  dear- 
ness  of  Capital,  78;  nearly  every  element  of  manufactures  dearer  here  than  in 
Europe,  78;  British,  78;  French,  78;  German,  78;  Belgian,  78;  the  great 
men  of  the  earl}'  years  of  the  Republic  favorable  to  Home  Manufactures,  108 ; 
favored  Protection  for  them  in  the  interests  of  Agriculture,  108 ;  Washington 
advises  the  promotion  of  Manufactures,  109 ;  action  of  Congress  thereon,  109 ; 
Alexander  Hamilton's  Report  on  Manuiactures,  109 ;  a  standing  Committee  on 
Commerce  and  Manufactures  created,  110 ;  Washington  affirms  his  former 
views,  110 ;  Jefferson  on  the  objects  of  the  Federal  Government,  111 ;  on  the 
maintenance  of  Protection,  112 ;  Madison  advocates  the  Protection  and  en- 
couragement of  Manufactures,  112, 113, 114 ;  Dallas  on  the  interest  of  Agricul- 
ture in  Manufacture,  115 ;  Newton  of  Virginia  on  the  harmony  of  interests, 
116;  on  the  general  benefits  arising  from  Manufactures,  116;  Mr.  Lowndes 
reports  the  Tariff  of  1816, 116;  Calhoun  on  the  mutual  interests  of  Manufac- 
tures and  Agriculture,  117 ;  advantages  of  the  measure  he  sustained,  118 : 
reference  to  the  messages  of  Governors  George  Clinton,  Tompkins,  DeWitt 
Clinton,  and  Snyder  as  corroborative  of  the  great  value  of  Manufactures  to 
Agriculture,  118 ;  reasons  which  guided  the  great  men  of  the  Republic,  119; 
Home  Manufactures  encouraged  by  the  founders  of  the  Republic  in  the  inter- 
ests of  Agriculture,  133;  the  Free  Trade  assumption  respecting  the  cost  of 
Home  Manufactures.  136;  Franklin  on  the  inter-dependence  of  Agriculture 
and  Home  Manufactures,  139 ;  downward  tendency  of  the  prices  of  domestic 
manufactures,  138  ;  Adam  Smith  on  the  great  value  of  Manufactures  to 
Agriculture,  141 ;  Alderman  Mechi  thereon,  142 ;  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  on 
the  Importance  of  Manufactures,  143 ;  President  Monroe  urges  Congress  to 


ANALYTICAL  INDEX.  371 

afford  Protection  to  Manufactures,  144 ;  the  distinct  classes  Manufacture-  di- 
vide into,  iu  regard  to  Political  Economy,  146 ;  explanation  thereof,  146;  in- 
fluence of  cheap  Labor  on,  146  ;  Encouragement  and  Protection  of  Manufac- 
tures contemplated  in  the  first  Tariff,  147  ;  the  special  claim  of  Manufactures 
to  Protection,  148;  in  the  interests  of  Agriculture,  149 ;  why  Manufactures 
need  Protection,  150  ;  relative  dearness  of  Labor,  150  ;  the  scarcity  and  dear- 
ness  of  Capital,  154  ;  abundance  of  skilled  Labor  in  France  and  Great  Britain, 
151 ;  Railroads  as  aids  to  Manufacture,  151 ;  the  control  exercised  by  the 
older  manufacturing  nations,  152;  the  partiality  for  foreign  manufactures, 
153  ;  the  ascendency  of  foreign  interests,  153 ;  want  of  information  on  Ameri- 
can manufactures,  154 ;  progress  of  the  Watch  manufacture,  154 ;  imitation 
of  foreign  goods,  155  ;  instances  thereof,  156  ;  impediments  to  the  growth  of 
American  Manufacturing  Industry  and  the  nature  thereof,  157  ;  necessity  for 
Protection,  158  ;  our  inflated  currency  and  Home  Manufactures,  237 ;  Manu- 
factures stimulating  Agriculture,  245  =  27C  =  the  growth  and  progress  of  Im- 
migration a  direct  consequence  of  the  establishment  of  Home  Manufactures, 
310 ;  existence  of  Manufactures  attracts  a  high  order  of  industrial  ability,  319  ; 
the  loss  France  suffered  from  the  expulsion  of  her  manufacturers,  320  ;  our  true 
policy  regarding  diversified  production,  337;  consequences  of  dependence  on 
foreign  supplies,  340  ;  the  Free  Trade  idea  of  cheapness  delusive,  341 ;  demon- 
stration thereof,  341 ;  Protection  stimulates  valuable  industries  and  serves  all, 
342 ;  reduces  the  cost  of  Manufactures,  343  ;  industrial  education  secured  by 
diversifying  pursuits,  348 :  folly  of  national  industrial  independence  being 
controlled  by  cheapness,  349  ;  Iron,  Lumber,  and  Salt,  352  ;  the  great  Immi- 
gration since  Manufactures  were  established,  352;  existence  of  manufactures 
indispensable  to  steady  and  extensive  Immigration,  353. 

MARCT  (Hon.  William  L.) :  351. 

MARENGO  :  191. 

MARGRAFF  :  187, 188. 

MASONS:  284. 

MASSACHUSETTS:  relative  production  with  North  Carolina  and  Indiana,  19; 
nearly  half  of  the  women  and  half  of  the  children  employed  in ,  19  ;  spades 
and  shovels  of,  unsurpassed  in  Europe,  47  ;  hostile  to  Protection  in  1822,  96, 
=  133  =  134  =  167  =  252  = 

MARTINIQUE  :  209. 

MARYLAND  :  124  =  134  =  274. 

McCuLLOCH  ; Secretary  Hugh  :  239. 

McCuLLOcn  (J.  R.  :  162. 

Mrcm  Alderman  :  on  the  value  of  Manufactures  to  Agriculture,  142. 

MEAT  :  138  =  200  =  234. 

MEDITERRANEAN  :  186. 

MERRIMACK    the  River'  :  167. 

MERSEY  (the  River) :  225  =  226. 

METALS  :  134  =  136  =  172  =  245  =  283. 

MEXICO  :  311  =  319. 

MICHIGAN  :  137  =  173. 

MIDDLE  STATES  :  declared  for  Protection  1824,  133  =  134  =  245. 

MIFFI.IN  (Governor  Thos.):  125. 

MILL  (John  Stuart) :  proposition  respecting  Capital,  43,  60. 

MILLWALL  :  227. 

MINERALS  :  172. 

MINNESOTA  :  30  =  137. 

MISSOUBI  :  =  97  =  134  =  152  =  244  =  286. 


372  ANALYTICAL  INDEX. 

MISSISSIPPI  :  the  Valley  of,  83 ;  the  State  of,  134 ;  the  River,  174. 

MOHAMMED  •  faith  of,  allusion,  16. 

MOLASSES  ;  201  =  204. 

MONEY  :  the  diffusion  and  practice  of  systematic  industry  promotes  the  public 

good,  54 ;   Money  an  agency  in  overcoming  Man's   natural   indolence,  54 ; 

work  universally  preferred  to  starvation,  54  ;  case  of  voluntary  idleness',  55  ; 

influence  of  Money  on  industry,  56  ;  beneficial  effects  of  the  creation  and  use 


convenience,  57 ;  the  reasons  for  such  selection,  66.;  the  use  of  Papcr^Money 
will  increase  indefinitely,  58  ;  its  advantages  outweigh  its  abuses,  58  ;  a  new 
country  feels  the  dearth  and  realizes  the  want  of  Money,  58  :  its  tendency  to 
send  away  its  money,  59 :  effects  which  follow,  59 :  practical  evidence  of  same, 
69  ;  distinction  between  the  want  of  Capital  and  of  Money,  59  ;  cause  of  the 
popularity  of  well-managed  banks  and  their  issues,  60  ;  evils  of  Balance  of 
Tra>Je  whereby  money  is  withdrawn  and  its  return  prevented,  60  ;  the  popu- 
lar feeling  right  on  this  matter,  60;  the  error  of  extravagant  trading,  60;  the 
nation  doing  so  incurs  the  penalty  of  culpable  folly,  60  ;  the  Free  Trade  treat- 
ment of  this  subject,  60  ;  Bastiat  quoted,  60  ;  Mill  quoted,  60  ;  effects  of  scar- 
city of  Money  in  the  Roman  empire,  61 :  beneficial  effect*  on  Europe  of  the 
gold  from  America,  61;  the  assumption  by  Free  Trade  economists  that  a 
country  may  part  with  half  its  specie  without  serious  harm,  61 :  the  injury 
caused  by  general  recourse  to  barter,  61 ;  personal  recollections  of  the  pecu- 
niary ruin  at  the  close  of  the  last  war  with  England,  62 :  the  tariff  of  1816 
inadequate  to  avert  it,  62  ;  Manufactures,  Agriculture,  and  Wages  depressed, 
62 ;  bankruptcy  in  New  England,  63  ;  intolerable  pressure  of  Debt  in  Ken- 
tucky, and  its  effects,  63;  New  York  merchants  memorialize  Congress,  63; 
barter  general  in  Vermont  in  1821-31,  64  ;  personal  recollections  thereof,  64 : 
the  scarcity  of  money  less  after  the  passage  of  the  Tariff  of  1824,  64  ;  effects  of 
the  drainage  of  specie  by  the  excessive  importations  of  1815-24,  64  :  the  con- 
sequences of  scarcity  of  money  summarized,  65  ;  considerations  which  should 
govern  imports  and  exports,  67  :  the  reckless  tendency  to  borrow,  68  :  Paper 
Money  natural  to  an  industrial  people,  69  ;  preference  for  gold  and  silver  in 
California  considered .  69 ;  rash  speculation  not  checked  by  hard  money  or 
legalized  usury,  69  ;  Paper  Money  more  n,  benefit  than  otherwise,  72  ;  an  ex- 
clusively paper  currency  of  questionable  value,  72 :  the  action  of  the  Govern- 
ment respecting  the  currency  at  different  periods,  72 :  its  course  during  the 
Civil  War,  72  ;  wisdom  of  the  measure  originally  designed,  73  :  consequences 
of  deviation  from  it,  74  :  conditions  of  an  exclusively  Paper  Currency,  74  ; 
Edward  Kellogg's  plan  for  a  paper  currency,  75;  his  view  of  the  Monopoly 
of  Money,  75 :  proposal  for  its  remedy,  75 ;  his  fundamental  proposition,  70  ; 
money  in  existence  before  government  intervention,  76 ;  the  controlling  in- 
fluences on  the  currency  proposed  by  E.  Kellogg,  77  ;  its  connection  with 
our  foreign  trade,  77 ;  its  inevitable  effect,  78  ;  the  merits  of  Paper  Currency, 
•78 ;  the  enthusiasm  in  its  favor,  78  ;  the  science  of  money  knperfectly  known, 
78;  the  dearness  of  Capital  impedes  the  progress  of  our  National  Industry, 
78  ;  distinction  between  real  and  fictitious  estimates  of  wealth,  78:  a  happy 
medium  between  the  ideas  of  extremists  on  .1  Paper  and  Coin  currency.  80  ; 
effect  of  an  irredeemable  currency  on  Prices,  233  ;  our  inflated  currency  inju- 
rious to  Manufactures,  237. 

MONOPOLY  :  a  perverted  and  misapplied  word,  95  :  the  right  of  granting  monop- 
olies exercised  by  British  monarchs,  95;  false  application  of  the  word,  96, 


ANALYTICAL  INDEX.  373 

incidents  corroboratory  thereof,  98 ;  home  competition  and  the  manufacture 
of  brick,  99  :  the  principle  applicable  to  other  industries,  99. 

MOXBOJ  (President) :  urges  Congress  to  afford  Protection  to  American  Manu- 
factures, 144. 

MONTANA:  280,322. 

MONTREAL:  28. 

MOORE  (Sir  Henry) :  123. 

MOORS  :  honored  and  practised  industry,  16. 

Moscow  :  190  =  191. 

MOUNTAINS  (The  Rocky) :  321. 

MUDGS  (lion  E.  R.) :  287;  on  the  perfection  of  American  Woollen  machinery, 
299  ;  cost  of  production,  300. 

MUXGO  :  its  nature  and  uses,  289. 

NAPOLEON  I. :  23  =  his  Berlin  Decree,  111 ;  his  Milan,  112  =  136  =  189  =  191  =» 
194  =  206. 

NAPOLEON  III. :  315. 

NASHUA  (N.  II.) :  138, 167. 

NAVIGATION  LAWS  :  231. 

NEBRASKA  :  37. 

NELSON  (Admiral) :  188. 

NEVADA  :  gold-mining  in,  reference  to,  31. 

N^w  BRUNSWICK  :  229. 

NEW  ENGLAND  :  the  poverty  of  the  District  of  Maine  a  proverb  in,  19,  37  ;  Chi- 
nese fabrics  once  worn  extensively  in,  45  =  55  =  ;  Bankruptcy  in ,  following 
the  war  of  1812-14,  62  >  Banks  of,  during  the  war  of  1812-14,  72  =  245  = 
254  =  311  =  331  =  352. 

Nsw  HAMPSHIRE:  63  =  133  =  134  =  167  =  252  =  286. 

New  JERSEY  :  134  =  151  =  152  =  274. 

NEW  MEXICO:  321. 

NEWPORT:  122. 

NEWSPAPERS  :  author's  experience  as  a  manufacturer  of,  100. 

NEWTON  (Hon.  Thomas,  of  Virginia) :  reference  to  the  Speeches  of,  34  =  109  = 
reports  as  chairman  from  the  Committee  on  Commerce  and  Manufactures  in 
favor  of  Protection,  115  ;  extracts  from  that  report,  116. 

NEW  YORK  (City) :  commerce  of.  26  ;  reference  to  a  merchant  of,  28  ;  the  prices 
of  bulky  staples  in,  mainly  quoted  by  Free-Traders,  33  =  37  =  ;  the  New  York 
merchants  memorialize  Congress  in  favor  of  Protective  measure?,  1817,  63: 
progress  of  the  City,  121 ;  population  1790-1860, 122 ;  her  rivals,  122  ;  com- 
pletion of  the  Erie  Canal,  126 ;  its  beneficial  influence  on  New  York,  126  ;  the 
same  arguments  as  Free-Traders  use  employed  against  it,  128  =  153  =  value 
of  Real  Estate  in,  263 ;  taxation  in,  265 ;  government  and  politicians,  266  = 
274  =  294  =  316. 

NEW  YORK  (The  State  of) :  123  ;  canals  of,  in  1791, 125  :  completes  the  Erie  Ca- 
nal, 123 ;  results,  126  =  128  =  134  =  137  =  151  =  153  =  252  =  286. 

NICARAGUA  :  26. 

NILSS  (Hezekiah) :  34  =  133. 

NITRE  :  234. 

NORFOLK  (Va.) :  122. 

NORMAN  CONQUEST  :  186. 

NORTH  CANAAN  :  340. 

NORTHERN  STATES  :  138. 

NORWAY  :  308,  312,  313. 

Nox^s  (Treasury) :  =  73  a 


374  ANALYTICAL  INDEX. 

NOVA  SCOTIA  :  148  =  225  =  229. 

OAK:  230. 

OHIO  :  122  =  134  =  252. 

OLD  WORLD  :  products  of,  allusion,  29. 

OLIVE:  241. 

OPDYKE  (lion  George) :  on  the  law  of  exportation,  230. 

OREGON  :  244. 

OWEN  (Hon.  Robert  Dale)  :  on  the  lazzaroni  of  Naples,  23. 

PACIFIC  MILLS  (The) :  Wages  of  Labor,  301. 

PALESTINE  :  observation  of  Ross  Browne,  22  j  cheapness  of  labor  in,  23. 

PALMYRA:  42. 

PAPER  :  price  of,  largely  enhanced  in  1862,  214 ;  effort  to  reduce  the  duty  on, 
defeated,  215 ;  ultimate  benefit  realized,  216. 

PARIS  :  189  =  191  =  197  =  308. 

PARLIAMENT  (British) :  93. 

PARAGUAY:  319. 

PAUPERISM  :  can  only  be  banished  by  industrial  training,  17. 

PEACHES  :  abundant,  but  unremunerative,  274. 

PENNSYLVANIA  :  =  48  =  97  =  124  =  134  =  230  =  244  =  252  =  331. 

PERFECTIONISTS  (Community  of) :  285. 

PERRY  (Professor) :  305 ;  condemns  (as  a  Free  Trade  writer)  Trades  Unions,  345. 

PERU:  152. 

PETER  (the  Czar)    allusion,  23. 

PETO  (Sir  Morton) :  on  American  Ship-building,  224. 

PETROLEUM  :  234. 

PHARAOHS  :  the,  274. 

PHILADELPHIA  :  population  of,  1790-1860, 122. 

PIANO-MAKERS  :  284. 

PIERCE  (President) :  57. 

PINTARD  (John) :  222. 

PITTSBURG  :  97  =  124  =  152  =  173  =  244  = 

PLOUGHS  (American) :  105, 146. 

POLAND  :  206  =  312  =  314 

POLITICAL  ECONOMY  :  the  chief  end  of  a  true,  29  =  218  =  ;  its  true  object,  282  = 
337. 

POLK  (President) :  97  =  287. 

POMEROY  ("  Brick  ") :  305. 

POMPEII:  42. 

PORTLAND  (Me.) :  on  the  Tariff  of  '28  =  253.     • 

PORTUGAL  :  140  =  174  =  288  ==  312  =  314  = 

POST  (Evening) :  135  =  222  =  ;  a  leading  champion  of  Free  Trade,  246  ;  on  pre- 
diction, 247  ;  prophesying,  248 ;  proved  a  false  prophet,  251 ;  exults  over  New 
England,  254 ;  impugns  the  motives  of  those  who  voted  for  the  Tariff  of  !28, 
254 ;  predicts  universal  smuggling,  255  ;  refuted  by  the  event,  259  =  303. 

PREDICTIONS  (Free  Trade) :  success  of  Protection  at  former  periods  a  guide  at 
the  present,  246  ;  the  Evening  Post  a  leading  champion  of  Free  Trade,  246  ; 
the  rule  of  verification  it  proposes ,  247 ;  Protection  and  the  Tariffs  1789  - 1824, 
247  ;  the  Post's  predictions  of  utter  ruin  from  the  Tariff  of  1824,  247  ;  com- 
pletely falsified,  247  ;  the  country  favors  higher  protection  in  1828,  247 ;  Free 
Trade  allegations  as  to  the  effect  of  Protection  on  Prices  and  Revenue,  247  ; 
Dr.  Cooper's  anticipations  of  a  decline  in  the  Revenue,  249 ;  the  Post's  en- 
dorsement of  Mr.  Cambreleng's  remarks  on  the  Revenue,  249 ;  Resolutions 
against  Protection  based  upon  injury  to  the  Revenue,  250  ;  entire  fallacy  of 


ANALYTICAL  INDEX.  375 

I  the  Free  Trade  predictions  demonstrated,  251  ;  Free  Trade  prophecies  again 
falsified  by  events,  251 ;  the  Tariff  of  1828,  252  ;  how  supported,  252  ;  hostile 
;  demonstrations  when  enacted,  258 ;  the  Post  and  New  England,  254;  the 
Post's  comments  on  the  expected  enactment  of  the  Tariff,  1828,  254 ;  the 
Post's  predictions  as  to  its  effects  when  passed,  255  ;  summary  thereof,  258 ; 
United  States  Tonnage,  Exports  and  Imports,  1817-32,  259;  Imports  from 
England  and  Scotland,  260 ;  foreign  trad 
or  thrift  of  a  people,  260  ;  application  of 
fallacy  of  the  Post's  predictions,  201 ; 
of  Free  Trade  and  Protection,  1832,  261. 

PRKSIDENTS  :  reference  to  the  messages  of  our  earlier,  34. 

PRICES  :  the  high,  charged  in  inter-oceanic  commerce,  28  ;  prices  of  home  pro- 
ducts equalized  by  Protection,  32;  prices  at  seaboard  habitually  quoted  by 
Free-Traders,  33;  misapplication  of  the  word  "monopoly,"  97  ;  prices  governed 
by  the  cost  of  production,  98  ;  effect  of  domestic  competition  on  the  price  of 
Brick,  99;  inconsistency  between  the  teachings  and  practice  of  Free-Traders 
in  regard  to  supposed  profits,  100  ;  the  Free  Trade  assumption  regarding  the 
influence  of  the  Tariff  on  prices,  100 ;  personal  experience  stated,  100 ;  the 
progress  of  the  Starch  manufacture  cited,  101 ;  an  illustration,  by  Mr.  Clay, 
of  the  subject,  101 ;  the  Tariff  of  1842  and  the  price  of  cotton  fabrics,  102 ; 
Samuel  Lawrence  on  the  price  of  cotton  fabrics  before  and  after  the  Tariff  of 
1842, 102, 103 ;  price  reduced  abroad  in  anticipation  of  the  Tariff  of  1842, 103 ; 
the  Tariff  of  1842  reduces  the  prices  of  Hardware  and  Cotton  goods,  104  ;  an 
immediate  reduction  not  invariable,  104 ;  the  general  propositions  on  the 
subject,  104 ;  Free  Trade  evidence  in  support  thereof,  104  ;  home  production 
the  cheapest,  105  ;  domestic  competition  sufficient  to  regulate  prices,  105 ;  cost 
the  general  measure  of  price,  106;  prices  of  Foreign  Iron  enhanced  under  the 
Revenue  Tariff  of  1846,  174  ;  influence  of  the  Labor  on  the  cost  of  the  produc- 
tion of  Iron,  177  ;  the  evils  attending  dependence  on  the  products  of  cheap 
labor,  179  ;  the  price  of  Iron  measured  by  the  cost  of  production,  184  ;  gen- 
uine cheapness  only  attainable  by  Protection,  185  ;  Dr.  Way  land's  statement 
respecting  the  price  of  Sugar  in  France,  193  ;  complete  fallacy  thereof,  193  ; 
error  of  the  Free  Trade  assumption  of  the  effect  of  duties  on  the  price  of  Home 
products,  194  ;  cheap  Sugar  attained  in  France  by  Protection,  195 ;  gradual 
reduction  of  the  price  of  Beet  Sugar,  197  ;  relative  price  of  Beet  and  Imported 
Sugars  in  France,  198;  Price  of  Iron  cheapened  by  Protection,  218 ;  why 
prices  are  inflated,  236 ;  Specie  payments  in  connection  with  prices,  241 ;  av- 
erage price  of  Wool  for  the  thirty-five  years  preceding  1860,  290  ;  prices  of 
Wool  October,  1860, 1866, 1869,  294  ;  price  of  Wool  and  Woollens  since  the 
Tariff  of  1867,  294  :  price  of  Wool  in  Great  Britain,  294  ;  prices  of  Woollens 
1859  and  1869  compared,  295 ;  clothes-making  referred  to  as  an  instance  of 
how  dependence  on  foreign  markets  operates,  338-40 ;  cheap  Sugar  attained 
in  France  by  Protection,  342  ;  all  Protected  Manufactures  have  reduced  in 
price  343 ;  relative  cost  of  Labor  in  the  United  States  and  Europe,  in  con- 
nection with  the  cost  of  some  articles,  343 ;  Free-Traders'  inconsistencies  in 
regard  to  the  supposed  effect  of  Duties  on  Prices,  349,  350. 

PRINTS  :  343. 

PRODCCF.  :  236,  239. 

PRODUCTION  :  affected  by  conflicts  between  Capital  and  Labor,  86  ;  increas 
the  invention  of  Machinery,  273. 

PRODUCTS  (Farm) :  138. 

PROTECTION  :  the  fundamental  ideas  on  which  it  is  based  war  on  Slayery,  ^4  ; 
a  means  of  securing  home  competition,  32  ;  has  secured  products  at  a  lower 


376  ANALYTICAL  INDEX. 

cash  price  than  when  imported,  33  ;  the  considerations  which  governed  our 
early  champions  of,  34 ;  General  Jackson's  letter  in  favor  of  a  Protective 
Tariff,  35  ;  the  fallacy  that  Protection  would  confine  the  farmer  to  one  mar- 
ket, 36 ;  the  Free  Trade  cavil  about  indiscriminate,  37  ;  cheapness  attained 
by,  48  ;  the  triumphs  we  will  attain  under,  49  ;  memorial  of  New  York  mer- 
chants in  favor  of,  63  ;  secures  lower  prices  for  cotton  fabrics  in  1842,  104 ; 
general  propositions  relative  to  its  bearing  on  prices,  104  to  107  ;  Free  Trade 
evidence  in  support  thereof,  104 ;  cost  the  general  measure  of  price  under, 
106  ;  alleged  exceptions  explained,  106 ;  Protection  secures  the  manufacture 
of  patented  articles  here  instead  of  abroad,  107  ;  the  great  men  of  the  early 
years  of  the  Republic  directly  or  indirectly  connected  with  Agriculture,  108  ; 
nearly  unanimous  in  favor  of  Protection,  108 ;  believed  it  essential  in  the 
interest  of  Agriculture,  108  ;  Washington  advises  the  promotion  of  manufac- 
tures, 109;  action  of  Congress  thereon,  109;  Alexander  Hamilton's  Report, 
109  ;  a  Standing  Committee  on  Commerce  and  Manufactures  created,  110  ; 
Washington  affirms  his  former  views,  110;  Jefferson  on  the  objects  of  the 
Federal  government,  111  ;  also  on  the  maintenance  of  Protection,  112  ;  Madi- 
son advocates  the  Protection  and  Encouragement  of  Manufactures,  112- 
114  ;  Dallas  recommends  the  policy  _of  Protection,  115 ;  Thomas  Newton's 
(of  Virginia)  Report  from  the  Committee  on  Commerce  and  Manufactures  in 
favor  of  Protection,  115  ;  Calhoun  favors  Protection,  117 ;  the  advantages  of 
the  measure  he  sustained,  118  ;  reference  to  the  messages  of  eminent  Govern- 
ors in  favor  of  Protection,  118;  the  attention  which  the  views  of  the  Fathers 
merit,  119 ;  the  motives  that  guided  them,  119  ;  the  founders  of  the  Republic 
conversant  with  Free  Trade  arguments,  1£3 ;  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke 
leads  the  Southern  anti-Protectionists,  133  ;  the  reasons  which  governed  the 
action  of  the  various  States  in  1824,  133,  134  ;  Dr.  Lieber's  statement  con- 
sidered, 135  ;  the  fallacy  therein,  136  ;  the  benefit  of  Protection  to  the  Agri- 
culturist, 136  ;  secures  the  farmer  manufactures  at  less  cost  in  Produce,  135 ; 
Distant  markets  fluctuating,  136  ;  exhaustion  of  the  soil,  137  ;  Protection  in- 
creases the  value  of  farm  products,  Timber,  &c.,  138;  Londonderry,  N.  H., 
an  illustration  thereof,  139  ;  corroborated  by  the  action  of  the  Canadian 
farmers,  139 ;  Franklin  on  the  interdependence  of  Agriculture  and  Home 
Manufactures,  139 ;  Henry  C.  Carey  on  the  value  to  farmers  of  near  markets, 
140  ;  K.  B.  Ward  on  the  necessity  for  Protection,  141 ;  Adam  Smith  on  the 
value  of  Manufactures  to  Agriculture,  141 ;  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher  on  the 
Protection  and  encouragement  of  Manufactures,  141,  142  ;  President  Monroe 
favors  Protection,  144;  The  AMERICAN  SYSTEM,  145;  economy  attained  in  the 
price  of  articles  by  Protection,  146  ;  the  preamble  of  the  first  Tariff  declares 
for  Protection,  147;  the  special  claim  of  Manufactures  to  Protection,  148; 
reasons  why  they  need  it,  150  ;  evidences  of  progress  in  Iron  production,  173 ; 
Price  of  Foreign  Iron  enhanced  under  the  Revenue  Tariff  of  1846, 174 ;  Hon. 
D.  J.  Morrell  on  the  progress  which  can  be  attained  under  Protection,  176 ; 
Labor  the  main  difference  in  the  cost  of  foreign  and  American  Iron,  177 ;  the 
evils  attending  dependence  on  the  products  of  cheap  Labor,  179  ;  the  Protec- 
tive Tariff  rates  on  Iron,  1816-61, 180;  deceptions  practised  by  Free-Traders 
respecting  Tariff  rates,  180;  the  production  of  Pig  Iron  increasing,  181;  eva- 
sions of  the  Tariff,  182 ;  the  price  of  commodities  measured  by  the  cost  of  pro- 
duction, 184 ;  detrimental  effects  of  unsteadiness  in  our  past  policy,  185 ;  the 
beneficial  results  that  would  follow  stability  in  the  Tariff,  185 ;  a  genuine 
cheapness  attainable  only  by  Protection,  185 ;  introduction  of  the  Sugar-Cane 
in  Europe,  186 ;  the  progress  of  the  Sugar  industry  under  Protection",  187  ; 
origin  of  Beet  Sugar,  187  j  history  of  its  introduction,  188  ;  circumstances  fa- 


ANALYTICAL  INDEX.  377 

vorable  to  its  development,  189 ;  scarcity  of  Sugar  in  France,  189 ;  Napoleon 
promotes  its  manufacture,  190 ;  its  extensive  production  an  enduring  evidence 
of  his  genius,  191 ;  permanent  character  and  success  of  the  Beet  Sugar  Indus- 
try, 192  ;  the  Free-Traders  ridicule  the  French  Protective  policy,  192 ;  Dr. 
Wayland's  misrepresentations  and  anticipations,  193 ;  falsity  of  the  Free  Trade 
assumption  of  the  effect  of  duties  on  the  price  of  ilouie  Products,  194  ;  later 
difficulties  of  the  Beet  Sugar  Industry,  194  ;  rates  of  duty  on  Sugar  in  France, 
195 ;  the  immense  production  and  consumption  of  Beet  Sugar  in  France,  196  ; 
its  gradual  reduction  in  price,  197  ;  the  Protection  accorded  to  Beet  Sugar  in 
France,  198  ;  the  relative  prices  of  Beet  and  Cane  Sugar  in  France,  198  ;  Pro- 
tection in  relation  to  harmony  of  interests,  199  ;  the  French  Sugar  industry 
in  relation  to  general  industry,  199 ;  in  regard  to  Agriculture,  200  ;  in  respect 
to  Cattle-raising,  200  ;  the  residuum  in  the  Beet  Sugar  Manufacture  utilized, 
201 ;  labor  benefited  by  the  Beet  Sugar  Industry,  202  ;  a  proof  of  the  value 
of  diversified  industry  secured  by  Protection,  203 ;  Beet  Sugar  Industry  in 
Germany,  204 ;  its  progress,  205  ;  the  value  of  encouragement  to  this  industry, 
206 ;  its  early  progress  in  Europe,  206  ;  statistics  thereof,  207  ;  our  imports  of 
Sugar  and  Molasses,  1862-66,  208;  Beet  Sugar  exported  to  England,  209; 
the  Free  Trade  version  of  the  history  of  the  French  Beet  Sugar  Industry,  209 ; 
the  general  benefits  secured  through  its  Protection,  211 ;  a  Free  Trade  docu- 
ment given,  212  ;  the  principles  on  which  Free  Trade  doctrines  and  Protection 
are  based,  213 ;  cheapness  not  to  be  obtained  by  dependence  on  foreign  mar- 
kets, 214 ;  Paper  as  an  instance,  214 ;  Iron  in  connection  with  Ship-building, 
216  ;  abundance  of  Iron  ores  in  Virginia,  217 ;  the  variable  Protection  afforded 
to  the  Iron  Industry ,  218 ;  some  Free  Trade  misrepresentations  respecting  Iron 
explained,  219  ;  Free  Trade  anticipations  of  the  ruin  of  Commerce  and  Naviga- 
tion examined,  220 ;  increase  in  United  States  Tonnage  following  the  Tariff  of 
1824,  221 ;  increase  in  the  Revenue  following  the  Tariff  of  1824,  223 ;  the  de- 
cline in  Ship-building  general  and  not  caused  by  Protection  to  American  In- 
dustry, 225-27;  the  necessary  excess  of  Exports  over  Imports,  235 ;  deceptive 
representations  of  the  Tariff  Rates,  237 :  no  essential  change  in  the  present 
Tariff  recommended,  240  :  importance  of  increased  Production,  241 ;  our  pres- 
ent industrial  progression  must  continue  unless  Protection  is  removed,  243; 
rapid  development  of  our  Manufacturing  Industry,  244 ;  value  of  Manufac- 
tures to  Agriculture,  245 ;  effects  of  Protection  at  former  periods  a  guide  at 
the  present,  246;  Protection  and  the  Tariff,  1789-1816,  247;  the  Evening 
Post  predicts  utter  ruin  from  the  Tariff  of  1824,  247  :  completely  falsified,  247  ; 
confirmed  by  the  country  favoring  Protection  in  1828,  247 ;  Free  Trade  alle- 
gations as  to  the  effect  of  Protection  on  Prices  and  Revenue,  249 ;  Dr.  Cooper's 
anticipations  of  a  decline  In  the  Revenue,  249 ;  Free  Trade  predictions,  249, 
250;  their  fallacy  demonstrated  by  results ,  251 ;  success  of  Protection,  1824- 
28,  252;  demonstrations  on  the  passage  of  the  Protective  Tariff,  1828,253;  the 
Post's  predictions  as  to  Its  effects,  254-258:  summary  thereof,  258 :  United 
States  Tonnage,  Exports  and  Imports,  1817-32,  259  ;  foreign  trade  not  a  true 
measure  of  national  growth,  260;  Mr.  Clay  on  the  contrasted  influences  of 
Free  Trade  and  Protection,  1832,  261  :  Free  Trade  inconsistencies  regarding 
raising  revenue  by  Customs  Duties,  271 ;  the  relation  between  Protection  and 
Cooperation,  283:  the  Wool  Tariff  of  1867,  290-292:  compared  with  former 
Tariffs,  293  ;  the  character  of  the  Tariffs  since  1824, 293  ;  Protection  stimulates 
Production,  and  reduces  Prices,  294;  the  results  of  Protection  as  applied  to 
Wool  and  Woollens,  296 :  great  improvements  in  the  quality  and  finish  of  our 
Woollens,  297;  American  Woollen  manufactures  compared  with  European, 
299;  why  Protection  is  necessary,  300;  the  results  detailed  of  Protection  to 


378  ANALYTICAL  INDEX. 

our  Wool  and  Woollen  Industry  since  1861,  302;  statement  of  the  Evening 
Post  on  Protection  to  the  Woollen  Trade,  303;  the  inference  therefrom,  304; 
inconsistencies  of  its  statements  with  actual  facts,  304 ;  a  Protective  policy 
increases  the  immigration  of  skilled  labor,  317,  319 ;  nature  can  be  the  only 
legitimate  impediment  to  manufactures,  337  ;  the  operation  of  foreign  trade, 
338,  339 ;  results  to  be  expected  from  dependence  on  foreign  supplies,  339 ; 
profitable  influence  of  Protection,  340;  another  name  for  National  Coopera- 
tion, 340 ;  extended  benefits  of  Protection,  341 ;  its  beneficent  effect,  in  regard 
to  Beet  Sugar  in  France,  342 ;  a  genuine  cheapness  secured  in  all  Protected 
manufactures,  343  ;  the  cost  of  Labor  the  only  main  difference  in  the  cost  of 
some  products,  344 ;  Protection  in  such  cases  dictated  by  national  interests, 
344 ;  a  fraternal  feeling  should  take  the  place  of  Competition ,  344 ;  Free  Trade 
in  antagonism  with  Trades  Unions,  345 ;  Professor  Perry  on  Trades  Unions, 
346 ;  Government  should  be  as  vigilant  for  the  Protection  of  Labor  as  for 
other  Property,  349  ;  inconsistency  of  Free-Traders  in  advocating  a  Revenue 
Tariff,  349 ;  eminent  Americans  favored  Protection  in  the  interests  of  Agricul- 
ture, 351  ;  did  so  from  enlightened  reasons  and  experience,  351 ;  deceptive  use 
of  the  word  Monopoly ,  352  ;  the  Free-Traders'  appeals  to  supposed  sectional  in- 
terests, 352 ;  the  favorable  influence  of  Protection  on  Immigration,  353 ;  Pro- 
tection always  a  sheet-anchor  of  Prosperity  and  a  main-spring  of  Progress,  353. 

PURITANS  (The) :  311. 

PYRAMIDS  (The) :  42. 

UAILROAD  (The  Pacific) :  321. 

RAILROADS  :  =  90  =  ;  the  Panama,  allusion,  90 ;  the  Pacific,  allusion,  90  =  342. 

RANDOLPH  (John,  of  Roanoke) :  led  the  Southern  anti-Protectionists,  133. 

RAPPITES  :  the  community  of,  285. 

RAY  (Dr.):  120. 

REBELLION:  Shay's, -233;  the  Southern,  235. 

RBNT:  266. 

REPRESENTATIVES  (House  of) :  A  Standing  Committee  on  Commerce  and  Manu- 
factures formed  by,  110  =  206. 

REPUDIATION  :  238  ;  a  crime  and  a  misfortune,  243  =  314. 

REUNION:  195. 

REVENUE  :  failure  of,  in  1840-42,  93 ;  increased  by  the  Tariff  of  1824,  221 ;  also 
by  that  of  1828,  251  =  258  =  260. 

REVOLUTION  (French) :  312. 

RHODE  ISLAND  :  37  =  133  =  134  =  167  = 

RICE  :  decrease  in  the  production  of,  224. 

ROCHDALE  :  89  =  278  =  279  =  280. 

RODNEY  (Admiral) :  188. 

ROEBLING  :  319. 

ROMAN  EMPIRE  :  61. 

ROMANS,  the :  298. 

ROTHSCHILDS:  28. 

RUSSIA  :  207  =  235  =  288  =  812. 

ST.  ETIENNE  :  284. 

ST.  HELENA  :  191. 

ST.  LAWRENCE  (the  River) :  225. 

ST.  THOMAS  :  319. 

SALADIN  :  empire  of,  allusion,  16. 

SALT  :  unfair  comparisons  made  in  the  price  of,  33 ;  produced  in  the  interior,  33 ; 
an  instance  of  cost  largely  enhanced  by  transportation,  33  =  147  =  343  =  352- 
SARACE.NS:  16  =  186. 


ANALYTICAL  INDEX.  379 

SARDINIA  :  312. 

SATINETS  :  343. 

SCOTT  (Walter,  Sir):  52. 

SCREWS  :  misrepresentations  respecting  the  influence  of  Protection  on  the  price 
of,  106. 

SCYTHES  :  American,  105. 

SECESSION  :  243. 

SSYBERT  (Hon.  Adam)  :  309. 

SEYMOUR  (\V.  Digby)  :  203. 

SHAKERS  :  the  community  of,  285. 

SHAWLS  :  343. 

SurEp  :  201  :  number  in  1850  and  1860,  287  ;  why  sheep  husbandry  should  be 
extended,  287  ;  sheep  in  Australia  and  South  America,  288  ;  sheep  husbandry 
in  Great  Britain,  294. 

SIISETIXGS  :  343. 

Smp-BciLDiNG  (American)  :  cheapness  not  to  be  obtained  by  dependence  on  for- 
eign markets,  214  ;  Paper  an  instance,  214-16  ;  Iron  in  connection  with  ship- 
building, 216  ;  our  great  facilities  for  Iron  production,  217  ;  some  Free  Trade 
fallacies  in  regard  to  Iron  explained,  219  ;  the  mistake  of  expecting  foreign 
supplies  at  a  fixed  price,  219  ;  Mr.  Webster's  anticipations  in  1824,  220  ;  their  in- 
correctncss,  221  ;  United  States  Tonnage  ,  1820  -  28  ,  221  ;  the  Tariff  of  1824and 
American  Tonnage,  221,  222  ;  memorial  from  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Com- 

•  merce,222;  incorrectness  of  its  calculations,  223;  matters  which  control  the 

*  progrc?s  of  our  ship-building,  223;  Sir  Morton  Peto  on  American  Ship-Build- 
ing, 224  ;  Shipping  sold  to  foreigners  before  and  during  the  war,  224  ;  decline 
of  ship-building  in  Canada,  225  ;  its  depressed  condition  in  England,  1868-69, 
226  ;  general  and  permanent  depression  of  ship-building  on  the  Thames,  227  ; 


vigation  generally,  232. 
SHOVELS  :  American,  105. 
SILESIA  :  206. 

SILK  :  the  climate  of  California  and  the  silkworm,  48  =  335. 
SINKING  FUND  :  238. 
SILVER:  241=321. 


products,  45  ;  English  manufactures  and  India,  45  ;  her  true  industrial  policy, 
45 ;  belief  once  entertained  that  the  country  should  be  exclusively  agricul- 
tural, 46 ;  the  ultimate  effect  of  such  policy,  46 ;  all  great  inventive  triumphs 
the  result  of  gradual  progress,  47 ;  only  manufacturing  countries  produce 
labor-saving  machinery,  47  ;  indebtedness  of  Europe  to  American  invention, 
47;  caused  by  our  advance  from  dependence  on  Europe,  47;  superiority  of 
some  branches  of  American  industry,  47;  industry  promotes  new  inventions, 
48;  iron,  48  ;  cheapness  attained  by  Protection,  48  ;  the  progress  of  invention, 
48 ;  the  field  of  future  achievements,  48  =  349. 

SLAVERY  :  engenders  contempt  for  and  avoidance  of  labor,  16 ;  inimical  to  the 
elevation  of  labor,  24  ;  the  idea  of  Protection  implacably  at  war  with  Slavery, 
Henry  Clay  never  in  sympathy  with  the  Slavery  Propaginda,  24;  John  C. 
Calhoun  adopts  Free  Trade  principles  because  of  Slavery,  24;  each  factory  in 
the  South  regarded  as  a  citadel  of  abolition,  24  ;  Slavery  disappearing,  81  ; 
its  former  revival,  81 ;  its  extension,  81 ;  circumstances  which  favored  it,  81 ; 


380  ANALYTICAL   INDEX. 

one  of  the  oldest  conditions  of  systematic  industry,  82;  the  circumstances 
under  which  it  originated,  82  ;  creates  an  aversion  for  labor,  82 ;  the  semi- 
civilization  it  promotes,  83;  Chinese  immigration  and  its  bearings,  83;  the 
Wages  system  an  immense  advance  on  Slavery,  83;  destroys  all  incentive  to 
labor,  87  ;  its  intolerance  of  inquiry  or  discussion,  88. 

SMITH  (Adam) :  his  statement  that  the  employment  each  one  prospers  in  is  the 
best  for  the  community,  128;  its  fallacy  demonstrated,  129;.  reference  to, 
138  ;  on  the  value  of  Manufactures  to  Agriculture,  141. 

SMITH  (Ashbel,  Colonel) :  testimony  in  favor  of  American  axes,  47. 

SMITH  (Capt.  John) :  317. 

SNYDER  (Simon,  Governor) :  34  =  118  =  351. 

SOUTHERN  STATES  :  their  relation  to  Protection,  24 ;  the  South  of  1815-60  had 
all  the  elements  of  manufacturing  prosperity  but  intelligent  labor,  25  ;  the 
anti-Protectionists  of,  led  by  Eandolph,  1824, 133  =  138  =  218  =  235  =  245. 

SPADES  :  American,  105'=  343. 

SPAIN  :  288  =  313  =  314. 

SPANIARDS  :  81  =  186. 

SPANISH  MAIN  :  81. 

SPARTA  :  iron  money  of,  77. 

SPECIE  PAYMENTS  :  =  72  =  74  =  ;  consequences  of,  and  why  opposed,  239 ;  how 
to  effect  Resumption  of,  240. 

STARCH  :  an  instance  of  price  reduced  by  Protection,  101. 

STATE,  THE  :  its  relation  to  usury  laws,  70  ;  the  Free  Trade  theory  of  the  duty  of 
the  State,  120  ;  it  affirms  that  taxes  should  be  raised  only  to  maintain  law  and 
order,  120  ;  cases  which  demonstrate  its  futility,  121 ;  the  purchase  of  Louisi- 
ana, 120  ;  Chicago  water-works,  121 ;  progress  of  New  York  City,  121 ;  relative 
progress  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  122  ;  the  rivalry  of  other  places,  122  ; 
canal  projects,  122 ;  interest  taken  therein  by  Washington  and  Colles,  123  -125 ; 
Washington's  views  on  the  subject,  124 ;  the  course  open  to  Pennsylvania,  125 ; 
Fulton's  suggestion  to,  125  ;  Erie  Canal  and  its  beneficial  effects,  126  ;  the  pro- 
ject vehemently  opposed,  126 ;  the  position  of  New  York  due  to  deviation  from 
Free  Trade  doctrine,  127  ;  the  Canal  policy  of  New  York  opposed  on  the  same 
grounds  as  the  National  Protective  is  now,  128  ;  Adam  Smith's  statement  that 
the  employment  each  individual  prospers  in  is  the  most  advantageous  for  the 
community,  128 ;  fallacious  and  mistaken,  129 ;  demonstration  thereof,  129; 
Free  Trade  principles  as  contained  in  the  Petition  of  the  London  Merchants, 
129  ;  its  essential  propositions  quoted,  130  ;  its  first  assumption  involving  the 
dictum  of  Adam  Smith,  130 ;  its  statement  that  a  nation  always  imports  wisely, 
131 ;  that  the  best  distribution  of  labor  is  thus  caused,  131 ;  practical  opera- 
tion of  this  principle,  131 ;  our  accumulated  foreign  debt  at  the  sacrifice  of 
national  interests,  132 ;  a  lavish  increase  of  imports  leads  to  depression  and 
calamity,  132. 

STEEL  :  147  =  154. 

STEPHEN-SON  (George) :  319. 

STORES  (Union):  280. 

STRIKES  :  Report  on,  to  the  British  Parliament,  93  =  278. 

SUEZ  (Canal) :  90. 

SUGAR  :  in  general  favor,  186 ;  introduction  of  the  Sugar-Cane  into  Europe,  186 ; 
definitions  of  Sugar  by  Johnson  and  AVebster  compared,  187  ;  origin  of  Beet 
Sugar,  187  ;  history  of  its  introduction,  188  ;  circumstances  favorable  to  its 
development,  189 ;  scarcity  of  Sugar  in  France,  189  ;  Napoleon  promotes  its 
manufacture,  190  ;  its  extensive  production  an  enduring  evidence  of  his 
genius,  191 ;  permanent  character  and  success,  of  the  Beet  Sugar  Industry, 


ANALYTICAL  INDEX.  381 

192  ;  opposition  to,  and  doubts  of  its  development,  192  ;  Dr.  Wayland's  mis- 
representations and  anticipations,  193;  falsity  of  the  Free  Trade  assumption 
as  to  the  effect  of  duties  on  the  price  of  home  products,  194  ;  later  difficulties 
of  the  Beet  Sugar  Industry,  194 ;  the  rates  of  duty  on  Sugar  in  France,  195 ; 
the  great  production  of  Beet  Sugar  in  France,  196 ;  gradual  reduction  in  its 
price,  197  ;  the  relative  price  of  Beet  and  Cane  Sugars  in  France,  198  ;  effect 
of  the  development  of  Beet  Sugar  manufacture  on  the  general  industry  of 
France,  199  ;  on  agriculture,  199,  200  ;  on  cattle-raising,  200  ;  the  residuum 
in  the  manufacture  of  Beet  Sugar  utilized,  201 ;  share  of  labor  in  the  Beet 
Sugar  Industry,  202  ;  increases  the  yield  of  Wheat  in  Belgium,  203  ;  the  evi- 
dence of  the  value  of  diversified  industry  afforded,  203  ;  Beet  Sugar  Industry 
in  Germany,  204 ;  its  progress,  205 ;  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture's  Report 
on  Beet  Sugar  Industry,  206;  its  early  progress  in  Europe,  206;  statistics  of 
production,  207;  our  Imports  of  Sugar  and  Molasses,  1862-66,  208;  Beet 
Sugar  exported  to  England,  208  ;  the  Free  Trade  version  of  the  history  of  the 
French  Beet  Sugar  Industry,  209  :  the  benefit  secured  through  Protection  by 
the  Sugar  Industry,  211 :  a  Free  Trade  document  given,  211 ;  the  principles 
on  which  Free  Trade  doctrines  and  Protection  are  based,  213;  decrease  in  the 
production  of,  224  =  241  =  its  production  promoted  by  the  present  Tariff,  272 ; 
introduction  of  Beet  Sugar  Manufacture,  2»2  ;  the  wisdom  of  Protection  ex- 
emplified in  France,  342. 

SUPERIOR  (Lake) :  152  =  173  =  174. 

SWEDEN  :  207  =  312  =  313. 

SWITZERLAND  :    308  =  312  =  313  =  314. 

TARIFF  :  the,  of  1816  framed  and  advocated  by  Calhoun,  24  ;  the  Protective,  of 
1861,  25 ;  relation  of  foreign,  on  the  price  of  Indian  corn,  37 ;  the  tariff  of  1816 
mainly  framed  by  William  Lowndcs,  62 ;  proved  inadequate,  62 ;  the  Mer- 
chants of  New  York  ask  for  an  increase  of,  1817,  63;  the  tariff  of  1828  secures 
our  industry  from  ruinous  foreign  competition,  93 ;  effects  of  the  tariff  of  1833, 
93  ;  the  effort  to  increase  the  Tariff  of  1816,  96 ;  a  Senator's  argument  against 
it,  96  ;  misapplication  of  the  word  "  monopoly  "  in  connection  with,  96  ;  the 
tariff  of  1816, 96 ;  contemplated  general  revision  of,  97 ;  incidents  corroboratory 
of  the  misapplication  of  the  word  "  monopoly,''  98;  the  tariff  of  1842  imposes 
a  duty  on  Starch,  101 ;  result,  101;  tariff  of  1842  and  the  prices  of  cotton  fab- 
rics, 102 ;  prices  of  Hardware  under  a  Revenue  and  a  Protective  tariff,  103 ; 
draft  of  the  tariff  of  1816  submitted  by  Dallas,  115 ;  William  Lowndes  reports 
the  tariff  adopted,  1816,  116  ;  its  salient  features,  117 ;  reasons  which  gov- 
erned the  action  of  the  various  States  respecting  the  Tariff  of  1824, 133 ;  blun- 
der made  in  breaking  down  in  1846  the  tariff  of  1842, 174 ;  effect  of  the  Revenue 
Tariff  on  the  prices  of  Foreign  Iron,  174 ;  Protective  Tariff  rates  on  Iron  from 
1824-61,  180;  Free  Trade  misrepresentations  about  the  duty  on  Pig  Iron, 
180;  evasions  of  the  Tariff,  183;  the  Tariff  of  1816,  217;  of  1824, 220  =  235  = 
237  =  ;  deceptive  representations  respecting  the  Tariff  rates,  237  ;  the  Revenue 
Tariff  question,  239  ;  no  essential  difference  in  the  Tariff  recommended,  240 ; 
Protection  and  the  Tariffs  of  1789-1816,  247;  the  Tariff  of  1828,252;  how 
supported  in  Congress,  252 ;  the  Wool  Tariff  of  1867,  290 ;  compared  with  for- 
mer Tariffs,  293 ;  the  character  of  the  Tariffs  since  1824,  293 :  the  Wool  Tariff 
of  1867,  294  ;  tariff  of  1824,  298  ;  Ad  Valorem  and  Specific  rates  defined,  323 ; 
the  minimum  principle,  when  introduced,  323 ;  the  cardinal  objection  to  Ad 
Valorem  rates,  323  ;  the  Iron-masters  of  Pennsylvania  on  the  working  of  the 
Tariff  of  1846,  325 ;  demonstrated  by  the  fluctuating  prices  of  Iron,  325 ;  their 
injurious  effect  on  American  industry,  325 ;  Specific  Duties  strongly  preferred 
in  Europe,  327 ;  the  tariff  of  the  Zoll  verein,  328 ;  evidence  of  Mr.  John  Dillon 


382  ANALYTICAL  INDEX. 

on  levying  duties  by  weight  and  Ad  Valorem,  328  ;  Hon.  James  Thompson  and 
the  Tariff  question,  331 ;  why  the  minimum  principle  is  required,  331 ;  nego- 
tiations of  the  French  Treaty  of  I860,  332 ;  the  French  reject  the  ad  valorem 
principle,  332  ;  the  British  view  of  the  French  tariff  examined,  334  ;  the  most 
advisable  course  to  pursue  in  fixing  duties,  334 ;  Free-Traders'  inconsistent 
policy  respecting  a  Revenue  Tariff,  349,  354. 

TARIFF  (Revenue) :  the  Free-Traders  inconsistent  in  supporting,  271. 
TAD.MOR:  42. 
TAX  (Income) :  241. 

TAXATION  :  pernicious  effect  of  the  inequalities  of  Turkish  taxation,  23 ;  the 
Free  Trade  doctrine  which  would  limit  taxation  to  the  maintenance  of  law  and 
order,  120;  wise  deviation  therefrom  in  Chicago  and  New  York,  121 ;  bene- 
ficial result,  121 ;  the  City  of  New  York  as  evidence,  121 ;  effect  of  the  excise 
tax  on  the  French  Beet  Sugar  Industry,  1837, 194  ;  Direct.  251 ;  Direct  and 
Indirect  defined,  264 ;  assumptions  in  favor  of  Direct  Taxation  examined,  265 ; 
the  working  of  Direct  Taxation  in  New  York,  265 ;  Taxation  in  New  York 
city,  268 ;  its  application  to  theories  on  Taxation,  267  :  Progressive  Taxation, 
267 ;  tendency  to  impose  Taxation  on  property,  268 ;  M.  Thiers  on  equality  of 
Taxation,  268 ;  the  relative  facility  of  earning  a  livelihood  now  and  ten  years 
ago,  269  ;  the  Taxation  necessitated  by  the  War,  270 ;  Free-Traders'  incon- 
sistencies regarding  raising  revenue  by  Customs  Duties,  271 ;  why  by  Cus- 
toms Duties  preferable,  271 ;  advantages  of  raising  Revenue  by  Customs  Du- 
ties, 272 ;  evidence  thereof,  272. 

TAXES  (Internal) :  72. 

TEA  :  in  connection  with  the  principle  of  Protection,  30  ;  grown  almost  wholly 
in  China,  Japan,  and  India,  30  ;  its  enhanced  cost  from  being  a  foreign  pro- 
duet,  31 ;  how  labor  might  be  wisely  applied  from  traffic  in,  to  the  production 
of,  31 ;  price  not  reduced  in  England  by  the  reduction  of  the  duty,  105  = 
241  =  ;  the  culture  of  the  Tea-plant  encouraged  by  the  present  Tariff,  272. 

TEHUANTEPEC  (Isthmus  of) :  26. 

TENNESSEE  :  the  tea-plant  in,  30  =  134  =  244=  252  =  272. 

TENNTSON  :  50  =  246. 

TEXAS:  47. 

THAMES  (The  Kiver) :  226  =  227  =  228. 

THEBES  :  26  =  42. 

THIERS  (Adolphe) :  on  the  Right  of  Property,  50  =  136  =  ;  on  direct  and  indi- 
rect taxation,  264  ;  on  Property  and  Labor,  268. 

THOMPSON  (Hon.  James) :  329. 

TIMBER:  225. 

TIMES  (The  London) :  331. 

TIMES  (The  New  York) :  on  the  decline  of  ship-building  on  the  Thames,  227,  229. 

TOBACCO  :  decrease  in  the  production  of,  224  =  241  =  339. 

TOD  (James) :  34. 

TOMPKIXS  (Daniel,  Governor) :  34  =  118. 

TONNAGE  (United  States) :  from  1820  to  1828  inclusive,  221 ;  effect  of  Tariff  of 
1824  thereon,  222  ;  yearly  aggregate  from  1817  to  1832,  259. 

TRADE  :  the  prizes  in  the  lottery  of,  preferred  to  the  rewards  of  productive  In- 
dustry, 27  =276. 

TRADES  UNIONS  :  278  ;  Free  Trade  antagonism  to,  345. 

TRAFALGAR:  189. 

TRAFFIC  :  the  present  an  age  of,  26 ;  the  recent  growth  and  development  of,  26 ; 
influence  of  the  hopes  of  gain  by,  27.  See  COMMERCE. 

TBEASUEY  (Federal) :  238,309. 


ANALYTICAL  INDEX.  383 

TRIBUNE  (The) :  215. 

TROY  (N.  Y.   :  Iron  Moulders'  Cobperation.  285. 

TURKEY:  the  Turks,  allusion,  16  ;  taxation  in,  23 ;  the  Turks  Slaveholders,  24. 

TYKE  (The  River) :  228,  229. 

UNION  STORES  :  89. 

UNITED  S.  AT  *>:  31;  labor  and  capital  dearer  than  in  Canada,  3S;  its  markets 
inaccessible  to  Canadian  manufactures,  38  .=  73  =  225  =  228  =  287  =  288  = 
303. 

USURY  :  the  legitimacy  of  legalized  unlimited,  considered,  69;  conditions  on 
which  usury  laws  might  be  modified,  71. 

VAN-  Bu.tEN  (Hon.  Martin) :  135 ;  votes  for  the  Tariff  of  1828,  252. 

VEGETABLES  :  243  =  252  =  274. 

YERPLASCK  (Hon.  Guliau  C.):  asserts  that  Protection  must  destroy  Revenue, 
250. 

VERMONT  :  barter  general  in,  1821  -  31,  61  =  134  =  168  =  252. 

VIRGINIA  :  =  34  =  115  =  122  =  131 ;  the  Iron  and  Coal  Lands  in,  217  =  244  =  ; 
colony  of,  317. 

WAGZS  :  decreased  by  the  influx  of  British  goods  at  the  close  of  the  war  of 
1812-14,  62  ;  Wages  system  an  immense  advance  on  Slavery,  83 ;  circumstan- 
ces under  which  Immigration  is  undesirable,  83  ;  improvidence  caused  by  the 
Wages  system,  85  ;  foments  hostility  between  Capital  and  Labor,  85 ;  works 
habitual  injustice  between  man  and  man,  80;  its  injustice  to  the  skilful  and 
industrious,  87  ;  Slavery  destroys  all  incentive  to  labor,  87  ;  its  intolerance 
of  inquiry  or  discussion,  88  ;  the  Wages  system  enjoys  no  immunity  from 
criticism,  88;  affords  a  field  for  inquiry,  88;  its  comparative  merits,  88; 
prospects  of  a  better  system,  88  ;  whaling  industry  prosecuted  on  a  coopera- 
tive basis,  88;  other  cooperative  enterprises,  89,  90;  their  experimental 
character,  90  ;  possibility  of  modification  if  they  fail,  90;  evidence  thereof, 
90  ;  the  power  of  associated  capital,  90  ;  conditions  necessary  for  the  success 
of  the  cooperative  principle,  90  ;  defect  of  the  wages  system  as  a  means  to 
its  development,  91 :  the  value  of  one  successful  effort,  90  ;  the  evil  influence 
of  Competition,  90  ;  Louis  Blanc  on  Competition,  92  ;  correctness  of  his  re- 
marks demonstrated  in  the  United  States,  93  ;  commercial  disaster  extended 
by  Free  Trade,  94,  273 ;  the  rates  of  Wages  paid  at  the  Pacific  Mills,  Lawrence, 
Mass.,  301 ;  compared  with  the  wages  paid  in  England,  301  ;  statistics  of  the 
savings  of  the  workpeople  at  the  Pacific  Mills,  Lawrence,  Mass.,  302.  See  CO- 
OPERATION, LABOR,  SLAVERY. 

WALTHAM  (Mass.) :  155. 

WAR  :  our  revolutionary,  mainly  carried  on  with  Continental  Money,  72  ;  War 
Finance,  73  :  Civil  war,  73  =  214  =  ;  of  Independence,  233 ;  civil,  234  =  242  =  ; 
of  1812,  259 ;  civil,  269. 

WARD  (E.  B.) :  on  the  necessity  for  and  objects  of  Protection,  141. 

WARES  :  134  =  130  =  147  =  154  =  172  =249  =  283  =  343. 

WARING  (George  E.) :  137. 

WASHINGTON  (President) :  =  57  =  ;  action  as  one  of  the  Fathers,  109  ;  advises 
the  promotion  of  manufactures  in  his  first  annual  Message,  109 ;  affirms  his 
former  view,  110 ;  interests  himself  about  canals,  123 ;  the  benefits  to  be  de- 
rived from  extended  communication,  124  ;  political  reasons  for  effecting  it, 
124 ;  approves  the  first  Tariff,  147  =  254  =  351. 

WATCH  :  Manufacture,  the,  154  =  343. 

WATT  (Isaac) :  319. 

WAYLAND  (Dr.) :  192  =  193  =  194. 

WEALTH  :  man's  insatiable  desire  for,  14 ;  illusory  distinction  between  Capital 


384  ANALYTICAL   INDEX. 

and  Wealth,  42;  incalculable  value  of  the  world's  accumulated,  44,  our  in- 
debtedness to  past  ages, 44  j  our  obligations  to  posterity,  44  =  260.  See 
CAPITAL. 

WEBSTER  (Daniel) :  18  =  72 ;  Free  Trade  Speech  in  1824,  133,  135 ;  speech  of, 
hi  1824,  in  championship  of  Navigation  and  foreign  commerce,  220  =  221 

WEBSTER  (Noah) :  75  =  187.  '  • 

WELLS  (D.  A.):  104. 

WEST  (The) :  217,  286,  311,  352. 

WESTERN  STATES  :  favor  Protection,  1824, 133,  =  138  =  218. 

WEST  INDIES  :  195  =  196  =  229  =  312  =  314. 

WHEAT  :  =  137  =  139  =  199=  203  =  204  =  ;  price  in  1825.  215  =  217  =  338  = 
339  =  352. 

WHITAKER  (Joseph) :  Almanac  of,  226. 

WHITNEY  (Eli) :  52. 

WILMINGTON  (Del.) :  230. 

WISCONSIN  :  137,  141. 

WOOL,  AND  WOOLLENS  :  106  =  147  =  ;  rates  on,  in  the  Tariff  of  1816, 117  = ;  the 
Tariff  on,  allusion,  247  =  259  =  ;  value  of  Imports,  297  ;  number  of  Sheep  in 
1850  and  I860,  287 ;  wool  product  of  1850  and  1860,  287 ;  why  Sheep  Hus- 
bandry should  be  extended,  287  ;  the  annual  Wool  product  of  the  world,  288 ; 
circumstances  which  have  tended  to  discourage  Wool-growing,  288;  quan- 
tity of  Wool  imported  1850  to  1860,  288 :  the  import  of  Woollen  fabrics,  289  ; 
Shoddy  and  Mungo,  289  ;  average  price  of  Wool  for  the  thirty-five  years  pre- 
ceding 1860,  290  ;  the  Wool  Tariff  of  1867,  290-292;  compared  with  former 
Tariffs,  293  ;  the  character  of  the  Tariffs  since  1824,  293 ;  prices  of  Wool  in  Oc- 
tober, 1860,  1866,  and  1869,  294 ;  price  of  AVool  in  Great  Britain,  294 ;  prices 
of  Woollens  in  1859  and  1869  compared,  295 ;  Wool  and  Woollens  cheaper 
in  1869  than  in  1860,  296 ;  effect  of  Protection  as  applied  to  Wool  and  Wool- 
lens examined,  296  ;  immense  increase  in  production,  296  ;  our  Imports  of 
Wool  and  Woollens  in  1860  and  1868  compared,  297  ;  American  manufactures 
sold  as  foreign,  297;  Woollen  manufactures  of  Great  Britain,  France,  and 
Belgium,  298 ;  origin  in  the  United  States,  298 ;  progress  compared  with  Eu- 
ropean, 299 ;  why  Protection  is  required,  300 ;  the  wages  paid  at  Pacific 
Mills,  Lawrence,  Mass.,  301 ;  compared  with  the  wages  paid  in  England,  301 ; 
statistics  of  the  savings  of  the  workpeople  at  the  Pacific  Mills,  Lawrence, 
Mass.,  302 ;  results  realized  by  Protection  to  our  Wool  and  Woollen  Industry, 
302,  303 ;  Evening  Post  on  Protection  to  the  Woollen  Trade,  303 ;  the  in- 
ferences to  be  drawn  therefrom,  303;  inconsistencies  of  its  statements,  304; 
the  minimum  principle  in  connection  with ;  extract  from  Hamilton's  Report 
on  cheapness  attained  by  Protection,  305  =  331  =  335  =  336  =  338  =  339  = 
343. 

WRIGHT  (Hon.  Silas) :  votes  for  the  Tariff  of  1828, 252. 

ZOLL-VEREIN  :  204  =  205  =  327  =  328. 

ZONE  (The  Temperate) :  211. 

ZOAMTES  (The  community  of) :  285. 


Cambridge  :  Printed  by  Welch,  Bigelow,  &  Co. 


University  of  California 

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Return  this  material  to  the  library  from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


DATE  DUE 


MAj 

,'3*f 

MAY  i 

1  1S71  1 

NOV  27 

1971 

MOV  30 

W1  X 

PFCl  4  1 

971, 

• 

GAYLORD 

PRINTED  IN  U 

Hrili 

001  36909.: 


